Celebrating the festive season in style and sustainably, Clayton Dialysis Unit has converted clean waste into colourful Christmas decorations this festive season.
Made entirely by hand using waste materials generated by Clayton’s Dialysis Unit, Acting Nurse Manager, Annette Jamieson took the principles of “reduce, reuse, recycle” and created a stunning and sustainable Christmas display for her colleagues and patients.
For weeks, the team collected clean waste generated by the ward, before Annette, a strong advocate for improving sustainability practices, spent some of her own time at home putting it all together.
“Having worked as a nurse for 35 years, I think a lot about the health of our patients and of our planet,” said Annette. “The idea around creating decorations from clean waste was to highlight and demonstrate the level and types of waste we have, what component of it was recyclable and generate conversation around reducing, reusing and recycling in the healthcare setting.”
The conversations and compliments have been rolling in since the decorations went up.
“We have had lots of positive feedback from colleagues and patients alike, amazed at what we were able to do with some of our clean waste. Our patients love having the decorations around the ward and there’s been plenty of guessing games with colleagues about what the decorations are made from.
With that in mind, I feel I have achieved my goal,” said Annette.
Now on display at Clayton’s Dialysis Unit (check out the gallery below), you’ll find:
- Christmas trees made from Avagard bottles, Albumin caps, and product paper backing
- A Snowman made from waste bags, stuffed with different types of soft plastic
- Mini Santas made from dialysate bags, Blood Bank Donor labels and excess cotton balls
- A Reindeer collage made from blood tube trays, brown paper, cardboard and the tops of the glucometer stick bottles
- Wreaths made from expired blood collection tubes
- A tabletop Xmas tree made from saline and heparin ampoules
- Christmas bunting made from paper backing from fistula needles
Praise for the decorations and Annette’s work has come from far and wide, including our Director of Nephrology, Professor Peter Kerr.
“We are very proud of Annette and the team. It’s amazing what can be achieved with passion and imagination. The decorations are fantastic, the Unit looks great, and we are highlighting the importance of sustainability for our employees and community,” said Professor Kerr.
Dialysis units worldwide tend to generate a significant amount of single-use waste. That’s why the whole of Nephrology takes sustainability so seriously.
For just over a year, Jane Crossett has been in the role of Dialysis Transition Coordinator, where there is a strong focus on improving sustainability practices for Dialysis across our health service.
“I love the work Annette and the team have done to decorate the ward and raise awareness for sustainability simultaneously. Dialysis at Monash Health operates across five of our sites, and we have so many good initiatives and projects that we’re working on, including increasing general recycling, auditing our waste streams, and introducing a PVC recycling program,” said Jane.
Earlier this year Monash Health launched its first Sustainability Strategy and Action Plan, with waste management one of the six key areas of focus and actions for sustainability. You can read about our Sustainability Strategy and Action Plan here, and/or visit our Sustainability intranet pages for more information.
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Approved by Anjali Dhulia and Lisa Evans