LiveGreen: 60,000 syringes, oh my!

“So let me get this right,” I asked. “There are 100 cases of 600 individually wrapped syringes filled with saline? And alhough they are sterile, they have to be treated as medical waste, and incinerated?”

“Yes,” I was told.

LIVEGREEN

by Melanie Stewart

I couldn’t let that happen. Having the syringes removed as medical waste not only would cost UNMC a lot of money, all the plastic being incinerated would put noxious gases into the air that we breathe. And after all, how hard could this be? Get some volunteers, set up an assembly line to open the syringes and empty the saline, and we’re good!

Not so fast, my friends.

The syringes are in thin plastic wrappers that have to be cut open, not pulled apart. The rubber stoppers on the end of the plungers have to be removed — after all, I wouldn’t go through all of this only to recycle half of what was there.

We waited for a semi-cool summer day. I put out a notice ahead of time requesting volunteers. I explained the situation and promised that while the chore would be tedious, we would find a way to have fun.

Six people responded.

Well, I thought, maybe more will show up. On the day, I sent out another reminder. Four of us got the ball rolling, but while we were going really fast, we weren’t going to finish without a lot of help.

So I begged. Almost 2,500 people received my pathetic email asking for help. By the time I got back from my office, eight of my new best friends had arrived. I think they felt sorry for me — but I’ll take it. Little did I know that their idea of fun was to empty those syringes in my direction! (Thanks for orchestrating that Susan and John; yes, they ratted you out.)

People came and went; some came back again. The nurses taught us all tricks to speed up the process. We met new people and — seven hours later — had 20,000 syringes disassembled and ready for recycling.

(Need a visual? We would have filled 250 gallon milk jugs — and we aren’t done yet.)

My new friends and I are exploring alternative uses for these syringes, so here’s hoping. But if they can’t be safely repurposed, prepare yourself for another pathetic email — one more chance to be my new-new best friend!