Single-use hospital towels usually destined for landfill are finding a second life in a nifty social enterprise giving work to people with disabilities and raising money for charity.
Hundreds of thousands of blue cotton towels are used by hospital theatre staff throughout Australia each year to dry their hands after scrubbing up with disinfectant prior to surgery.
After a single-use the towels they are thrown away.
Unit manager of the perioperative unit at Echuca Regional Health, Tricia Burke, said in her 30 years of nursing she had seen the hospital environment become increasingly reliant upon disposable items.
"We used to wash all of our sheets and we did it mainly onsite — the modern hospital is a huge landfill issue these days," she said.
She estimates the regional hospital in Echuca use about 100 to 150 towels per week, a relatively small amount compared to a large metropolitan hospital.
"We have made a huge impact on the environment in just our hospitals alone," Ms Burke said.
After being approached with the idea of recycling their surgical towels for charity by Echuca local Dick Phillips, who was introduced to the idea by anaesthetist, Dr David Hays, the hospital came onboard.
There are now 12 hospitals throughout regional Victoria and southern NSW and 12 in Melbourne that are part of the Little Blue Towels project, with all proceeds of sales going to the OTIS Foundation, which provide no cost retreat accommodation to people living with breast cancer.
'Exceeded all of our expectations'
At the heart of the project is a small laundry business in Echuca that prepares all the towels from across the state.
This unique company, Laundry Mates, is an enterprise wholly owned and operated by people with disabilities, who are all shareholders in the company.
Coordinating supervisor Dianne Smith said the enterprise came about through disability support provider Echuca Discoveries, whose clients expressed an interest in being part of the workforce.
"They actually wanted to be out there working for themselves with the intention of getting an income," she said.
Ms Smith said initially it was a steep learning curve for the shareholders, many of whom did not have any prior skills in washing or ironing, but they took on the challenge.
"They've exceeded all of our expectations they've taken to it with great gusto. They absolutely love what they're doing and take a lot of pride in their work," Ms Smith said.
In addition to servicing their clientele, mainly in the hospitality industries, Laundry Mates launder on average about 2,000 blue surgical towels per week.
They also do some packing, but unable to meet the demand have enlisted the support of community organisation Radius in Bendigo to do the bulk of the packaging.
Enthusiastic about the task
On the top floor of the recently re-furbished Morley Building in Bendigo, 10 people in a supported employment program sit and pack the towels to be ready for sale.
The group of people with disabilities are from community organisation Radius who, along with volunteers and mentor Stephen Rynhart, make sure the towels are neatly packaged ready for distribution across the state.
"The team is working very effectively and they enjoy the work," engagement manager at Radius Simone Baker said.
The operation runs four-days-per-week, with most people working two days in a roster.
Sam Thompson, who has been involved with the project for the last few weeks, said he found the folding "pretty complicated" but was "enthusiastic" about the task.
Myriad of uses and ideas
According to Mr Phillips, the 100 per cent cotton towels have a range of uses from cleaning to golf towels.
He said they could even be useful for holding fish prior to releasing them back into the water, according to catch and release best practice.
With more hospitals coming on board, Mr Philips is hoping he can find a suitable service in Melbourne to handle some of the metropolitan laundering to save on transport.
"If that could happen that would be fantastic and would certainly increase our processing capacity," he said.
Back at Echuca hospital Ms Burke said the project had inspired staff to think about other ways of recycling, after two staff returned from an environmental sustainability study day in Melbourne.
"This has opened up a whole myriad of ideas," she said.
.jpg/7445186)
