North Shore Private Hospital
Part of Ramsay Health Care

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Ramsay to remove 24 million plastic items per year

Jan 15, 2020

Ramsay Health Care has pledged to ban a range of single-use plastic items from its 72 Australian hospitals, day surgeries and clinics by World Environment Day in June 2020.

These plastic items – including drinking cups, plates, straws, kidney dishes and cutlery – make up more than 24 million plastic items that Ramsay will eliminate from the environment each year.

You can download and share a poster about Ramsay's new initiative here.

Single-use plastic items to be replaced at Ramsay Approx Quantity Per Year
Denture Cup 133,000
Denture Lid 65,000
Drinking Cup 7,068,000
Drinking Lid 3,359,000
Fork 412,000
Knife 630,000
Medication Cup 6,575,000
Plate 760,000
Spoon 2,852,000
Stirrer 1,065,000
Straw 1,188,000
Kidney Dish 610,000
TOTAL NUMBER OF ITEMS BEING REPLACED 24,717,000 items

Banned items have been selected on the basis of:

  • Being predominantly non-clinical and of low risk and high volumes
  • Having a high level of community support to remove
  • Having suitable alternatives available
  • Having supply arrangements that can be readily enacted

Single-use plastic waste is a global menace; about 8 million tonnes of plastic reportedly ends up in the ocean every year - the equivalent of dumping the contents of a garbage truck every minute.

Ramsay Health Care has recently undertaken extensive staff focus groups globally to examine how to better address sustainability across the business – and waste reduction was identified as a major area of focus.

National Environment Manager Sue Panuccio said: “Rather than wait until legislation is enacted around single-use plastics in Australia, we wanted to take a proactive approach.”

“We are serious about developing initiatives that advance the health and wellbeing of both current and future generations – and protecting the environment is a crucial part of this,” Ms Panuccio said.

“Our patients and staff expect us to constantly look for new ways to conserve and protect the environment, so this new initiative to remove 24 million single-use plastic items per year is something we are really excited about.”

95% of RHC’s plastic medication cups are being replaced with new 30mL cups which are made from 100% wood pulp. They are both biodegradable and compostable, decomposing within two to six weeks.

Ramsay Health Care is currently investigating a range of other waste-reduction strategies to continue delivering environmentally sustainable outcomes.

Ramsay also recently launched a $1 million Environmental Sustainability Fund to support hospitals to undertake projects that reduce carbon emissions during this financial year.

Through this scheme, Ramsay sites could apply for funding to undertake initiatives like energy efficient lighting and alternative energy options such as solar power.

Single use plastics