DVIDS – News – At NHB we continue where others left off

It was a modest proposal.

Based on the principle, from small beginnings in the environmental field, great ecological commitment can grow.

Staff at Naval Hospital Bremerton were asked to observe Earth Day 2024 by spending just a few minutes walking the command, walking through their neighborhood and/or walking through a nearby Naval installation to bow and lend a hand with collecting waste and plastic.

“Please separate plastic in the blue containers behind the warehouse. Think globally, act locally,” said Robert E. Mitchell, environmental program manager for NHB and Navy Medicine Readiness and Training Command Bremerton.

Earth Day was founded in 1970 as a day of education about environmental issues. Ten years later, NHB moved to its current location at Struisvogel Bay and has since consistently focused on a number of programs – recycling, replacement and reuse – that actively support and encourage a culture of environmental stewardship within the command and surrounding community.

From solid savings to liquid investments… The NHB water foundation project has reduced the use of disposable plastic drinking water bottles every year. The Facilities Engineering Division’s Solid Waste Diversion installed bottle fillers in 14 drinking fountains and has reaped environmental benefits. Just one filler can dispense the equivalent of almost 200 bottles of water in one work week, theoretically keeping those 200 bottles out of the trash, bins and landfills.

In keeping with the Earth Day 2024 theme of ‘Planet vs Plastic’, NHB has over the years used what can be referred to as the five ‘R’ principles:
Reduce personal plastic use and buy sustainable products made without plastic;
Refusing to not bring a plastic straw or accept a plastic shopping bag;
Reuse mesh bags when shopping and have a reusable water bottle instead of single-use plastic bottles;
Recycle soda, water bottles, milk and juice jugs;
Remove plastic by starting a clean-up project in your area and/or support the work to remove plastic from the environment.

The command also has a waste reduction program to collect and return what the Food and Drug Administration classifies as single-use devices used in the operating room, rather than disposing of them as medical waste. After reprocessing, these devices can then be purchased at a cost savings of up to fifty percent compared to new devices. Devices used in this program include arthroscopic rods and shavers, bits, blades and drills, laparoscopic instruments, suture passers, trocars, ultrasonic scalpels, and ligature sealers/dividers.

NHB also recycles various non-invasive medical devices, including compression sleeves, pneumatic tourniquet cuffs, pulse oximeter sensors, ECG leads and cables, blood pressure cuffs, splints, cervical collars, stethoscopes and pressure IV bags. At some point, all of these items were disposed of as solid waste, with associated costs and environmental impacts.

No longer at NHB.

The command has been recognized for its environmental management efforts and initiatives over the years with the Chief of Naval Operations Environmental Award. The award recognizes exceptional performance in environmental management among nominated vessels, installations and individuals with NHB noted in the ‘Sustainability, Non-Industrial Installations’ category.

Other notable efforts include the recycling of alcohol and xylene by the Laboratory’s Histology Division; dental practices amalgam filters and absorbent columns to keep silver and mercury out of wastewater; Pharmacy ‘MedSafe’ disposal container for beneficiaries to return unused and expired pharmaceutical products and keep the medications out of landfills; and participating in the regional qualified recycling program by recycling plastics, aluminum cans, metals, paper and ink cartridges.

NHB’s commitment to environmental stewardship and sustainability is constantly expanding with new ways, new thinking and new methods. Even if it’s just a simple recycling stop during a lunch break walk.

Because even a small individual effort can lead to a large collective effort, one recycling effort at a time.

“Earth day, every day,” Mitchell emphasized.