Bertha Gxowa’s recycling project awarded at Khanyisa Awards
Local hospital recognised at the Gauteng Health Khanyisa Awards for their new waste management strategy.
The new recycling and waste reduction strategy introduced at Bertha Gxowa Hospital (BGH) recently received a nod at the Gauteng Health Khanyisa Awards.
Bertha Gxowa Hospital has been a member of the Global Green and Healthy Hospital (GGHH) Community since 2016.
The Global Green and Healthy Hospital’s agenda sets out to support existing efforts around the world to promote greater sustainability and environmental health in the health sector, and thereby to strengthen health systems globally.
There is no global standard that defines what a ‘green and healthy hospital’ is or should be.
But, it can be defined as follows: A green and healthy hospital is one that promotes public health by continuously reducing its environmental impact and ultimately eliminating its contribution to the burden of disease.
Such a hospital recognises the connection between human health and the environment and demonstrates that understanding through its governance, strategy and operations.
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It connects local needs with environmental action and practices primary prevention by actively engaging in efforts to foster community environmental health, health equity and a green economy.
“As a member of the GGHH community, the hospital has committed to protect public health by reducing the volume and toxicity of waste produced by the facility, while implementing the most environmentally sound waste management and disposal options such as recycling,” said Dimakatso Nhlapho, the chief environmental officer at Bertha Gxowa Hospital.
The hospital’s staff was inspired to take part in this initiative after realising that often in their efforts to save patients they neglect the environment around them.
“We are trying to rectify these long-standing errors that exist in the health care system,” said Dimakatso.
“The world is experiencing a mountain of varying environmental issues such as climate change and such issues often affect the poorest and most vulnerable members of society.
“We all have a role to play in ensuring this doesn’t happen and therefore we were inspired to adopt this initiative and be part of the green movement.”
Dimakatso and her team believe that, since hospitals generate a lot of medical and general waste, if they can significantly reduce the waste generated, it would result in cleaner communities and few over capacitated landfill sites, which will lead to fewer environmental and public health issues.
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“Recycling is also very important with today’s environmental concerns,” said Dimakatso.
“Waste like plastic is toxic and often ends up in our oceans, threatening our ocean ecosystem and food source.
“Plastic waste that ends up on our landfill sites can also release toxic leachate that can pollute our groundwater.
“Plastic is also not bio-degradable and by not reducing and recycling this waste, it can lead to health issues, especially when the plastic is burnt.
“It releases harmful toxins like furan and dioxin, which can lead to respiratory issues and even cancer.
“It is our duty as a hospital to not contribute to this dangerous chain of events.”
Supporting documents and pictorial evidence that indicated the progress of the project were attached to the entry form and submitted to the internal Quality Assurance Office.
The environmental health team believed that the project had won because Bertha Gxowa Hospital was the first facility in Gauteng to be part of the GGHH community.
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However, their project, “Moving towards green health care through recycling and health care waste minimisation”, won for being innovative towards the reduction of waste management using minimal resources and promoting recycling.
The team thanked the following departments for ensuring that the waste and recycling project becomes a success:
• BGH support services (cleaners and property caretakers).
• Nursing personnel.
• Quality assurance and infection control.
• BGH pharmacy.
• BGH management.
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