SOS Wins ABC Radio Brisbane's Community Spirit Award
Working in an operating theatre, nurse Claire Lane was dismayed by the sight of packs filled with unused medical supplies being thrown out because they had become unfit for surgery.
Hoping the packs filled with drapes, gowns and masks and other supplies would not go to waste, she asked her supervisors and colleagues if there was any way to reuse or recycle them, but was told to throw them away.
The situation prompted Ms Lane and her former partner to create Save Our Supplies, a not-for-profit organisation that collects clean, unused medical supplies and redistributes them to health services at home and overseas.
"Even though they don't reach our standards they are still perfectly clean and can be used in a lot of other environments other than hospitals," she told ABC Radio Brisbane.
The health sector's reliance on single-use plastics has been highlighted throughout the pandemic, but there is a growing effort among clinicians and healthcare workers to do more for the sector's carbon footprint.
Overall, the healthcare sector is responsible for about 7 per cent of Australia's carbon emissions, with hospitals and pharmaceutical operations being the major contributors, according to a report in 2018.
Distributing medical products
Ms Lane and volunteers collect the medical supplies and sort, itemise and package them and, with other charities including Rotary Australia's Donations in Kind, gets the supplies where they are needed.
"A couple of weeks ago, I got 800 gowns that had gone past their expiry date because again with our Australian standards we have to have an expiry date and they're technically not usable," she said.
"But we've used them in a new healthcare for the homeless charity … and they've gone across to [Papua New Guinea]."
Once Save Our Supplies received three shipping containers filled with hand sanitiser, "worth about $800,000 that we sent to Fiji'' because too much had been ordered and there was a wrong expiry date on the bottle.
During the bushfires in 2020, Save Our Supplies redirected products to assist wildlife charities helping injured animals.
Universities also receive supplies for use in clinical simulation training, educating future doctors and nurses.
Plans to expand
There are collection bins in 10 Brisbane hospitals and Ms Lane hopes to expand this to all Queensland hospitals next year.
"My dream would be to have it in every workplace in Australia … then I want it to be in every developed nation in the world," she said.
Mater Hospital environment sustainability project officer Ngaire McGaw said Ms Lane and her team had been an "absolute blessing" in diverting unused goods from landfill, ensuring they went to good use.
"We've got a network of nurse champions, especially from operating theatres who work with Save Our Supplies to provide expired goods," she said.
"It's all about saving on resources for everybody."
Claire Lane is a finalist in ABC Radio Brisbane's Community Spirit Awards, which celebrates the positive difference individuals and groups are making across Brisbane.
Read the article from ABC News here.
