The Evolution of Waste and Linen Removal in Hospitals: The Dawn of the New Pneumatic Age

Healthcare facilities have a waste problem generating up to 25 pounds of waste per day, per patient. Moreover, the transport and removal of waste, linen and recyclables from a hospital is a critical component of its logistic and sustainable operations efficiency. And yet, the systems that transport and remove waste, soiled linen, and recycling have remained virtually unchanged for the last hundred years - and have not kept pace with infrastructure and technology improvements in healthcare facility construction. That is, until now.

With the development and deployment of automated waste and recycling management systems powered by air technology, we are at the dawn of a new age -- the pneumatic age. These new systems are quickly becoming the waste, linen and recycling infrastructure system of choice for forward-thinking developers of healthcare facilities. They keep waste and soiled linen where it belongs -- out of sight -- and provide the hospital with significant improvements to operating efficiency, cost-savings, infection control, and sustainability.

 

Automated Removal of Waste is Cleaner

Many hospitals today continue to use an antiquated and arcane system for the removal of waste, recyclables and linens - manual disposal, overflowing roller carts, waste bins-gravity chutes, and trash closets. These systems are highly inefficient, labor-intensive, and potentially unhealthy in terms of disease and infection control. In evaluating the current traditional logistics for removing waste and soiled linen, hospital team leaders are finding a number of problems including:

• Increased costs due to required labor for transporting waste and soiled linen
• Increased exposure time of infectious materials to patients, staff and the public during transport of contaminated linens through hallways and elevators
• Environmental and cleanliness concerns associated with the transport of waste and recycling through corridors and elevators

Systems for automated removal of waste, soiled linen and recyclables are cleaner, safer and more economical than these traditional systems. Automated systems transport the materials in a separate, closed pipe system from every department/floor to a single collection point which can be located in a discrete location. The inlets are positioned optimally to keep manual handling to a minimum. The materials are then transported via a computer-controlled pneumatic system that moves the soiled linen, waste and recyclables quickly, safely -- and out of sight. This results in a quiet, hygienic, environmentally friendly setting for patients and guests. These automated systems have other important benefits as well.

 

Time Saving

A recent study analyzing the exposure time of infectious materials through hospitals compared the exposure of soiled linen using manual collection versus an automated pneumatic solution. Exposure time by manually removing waste was 1,344 minutes compared with 132 minutes for an automated process in a 200 bed hospital. Automated transportation of trash, linens and recycling typically minimizes patient, staff and guest exposure time by at least 80 percent; transport time is limited due to automating and sealing the removal process. Other quantifiable benefits of an automated system include:

• Reduction in hospital FTEs
• Payback in 3-5 years
• Ongoing cost-savings - for some hospitals, in the millions of dollars
• Increased management tools via secure log-ins for system access

 

Hospital’s are already Implementing Automated Removal

Leading hospitals such as Rush University Medical Center and Brigham & Women’s have discovered that this technology can greatly improve material transport performance and also lower operational costs, improve cleanliness and aesthetics while also limiting exposure to infected material.

St. Anthony’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado designed and constructed their new facility embracing "smart building" technology to ensure superior conditions to both personnel and patients. This included Colorado’s first automated pneumatic solution that provides unit-level sorting/transport of linens, trash and recyclables.

It’s proven to be cleaner, healthier, and quieter than any other waste management process available, there’s nobody walking around with dirty sheets, no loud trucks parked outside of the building. In addition, there’s less wear and tear on the building, lower housekeeping costs and everything happens out of sight.

St. Anthony’s Administrative Director of Support Services agreed, saying, “ The automated pneumatic solution provides enormous benefits. This includes reduced need for staff. Further, it cuts down on infections that can be spread when someone drags a trash cart full of soiled linen through a hospital floor and makes the building neater.”

Automated waste and recycling management provides an opportunity for hospitals to ensure sustainability, improve efficiency, and reduce costs. It is the dawn of the pneumatic age, the way of the future.

 

Harry Pliskin is President of TransVac Systems LLC - the world leader in automated waste, recycling and soiled linen handling systems for hospitals in the US and abroad (www.transvacsys.com).  Previously, Harry was founder and CEO of TeleWeb Worldwide, one of the first business process outsourcing companies focused on providing services from locations around the world.