Metal is latest focus of recycling efforts

As part of CoxHealth’s ongoing environmental efforts, metals are now among the items being recycled at Cox.

Large bins for metal were added to the waste disposal area at the back of Cox South in September, joining the bins for paper and pallets of cardboard set for recycling.

Dieter Reichmann, plant facilities coordinator in Engineering, says the department is already providing a steady stream of metal with leftover bits and pieces from construction projects throughout the system.

The excess metal comes from large and small projects alike. Reichmann points to a few dozen discarded fluorescent light fixtures sitting near the dock.

“We normally take this to the Dumpster, but if we’re careful we can just take the glass out and put the metal frames in the bin for recycling,” he says.

In addition to metal created by engineering and construction projects, the recycling efforts also include streams from food services (containers for canned food, for example). Soon, containers for aluminum cans will be placed on floors at Cox South.

The metal is being handled by Commercial Metals Company Recycling, a national firm with local offices. CMC picks up the full bins and hauls them away for sorting and processing.

“The good thing is, we don’t have to pay for stripping insulation off of wire and things like that,” Reichmann says. “They do all of that, do a tally at the end of the month and cut us a check.”

With metal recycling in place, efforts are now under way to develop plastic recycling in the near future.

Recycling efforts now include all paper

In an ongoing effort to expand recycling at CoxHealth, the Environmental Leadership Council recently announced that staff will now be able to recycle all paper via the locked bins located on patient floors and in various departments.

The bins, currently located near the transportation elevators in the main hospital, have long been used for some types of paper recycling. Now, through an agreement with Midwest Fiber, the bins will be able to accept any and all paper – everything from printouts to newsprint and glossy paper. The bins can also accept confidential paperwork without prior shredding.

“Everything in the bins is locked up and then shredded, so people can feel secure in putting things in there unshredded,” says Shana Tauai, co-chair of the Environmental Leadership Council.

While metal binding clips will need to be removed, stapled paper can be recycled with staples intact.

Midwest Fiber will continue to collect the bins regularly and Environmental Services director Ronnie Lightfoot says adjustments in the collection schedule will be made as need dictates.

“It will create some additional volume for the EVS team and we might have to accommodate some of the areas that do more paper handling with an additional bin or two,” Lightfoot says.
Tauai says she hopes the move will encourage employees to recycle and to think about waste reduction in general. She and Lightfoot say it’s important for employees to ask “do I really need to print this?”

“Using less paper in the first place helps even more than recycling,” Lightfoot says.

In other CoxHealth environmental updates:

• A plan is under way to remove the light bulbs in all vending machines on Cox campuses. Lightfoot says that at a similar-sized organization that change resulted in a $15,000 utility savings annually.

• Drury’s Students In Free Enterprise chapter is completing its analysis of CoxHealth’s carbon footprint and the results are expected soon.

• Tentative plans are under way to develop a recycling center at Cox South. Council leaders are working with the city on a plan to place bins for metal, glass and paper recycling on the south campus. The location would serve as a drop-off point for employees and the community.