Seton Coastside wins waste reduction award

Seton Coastside has won the WRAP (Waste Reduction Awards Program)annual award recognizing outstanding efforts to reduce nonhazardous waste and send less garbage to our landfills. "WRAP of the Year" (WTOY) recognizes five of the best examples of these efforts, which serve as waste management models to the rest of their industry. Seton Coastside has won five WRAP awards in a row, and was selected as one of the five winners out of 1200 past winners in the State. Seton Coastside’s award is the first time that a hospital has been selected for the WOTY. 

When a few of the presenters were talking about the "Flat Mop" system that Becky Clark introduced to Seton Coastside, saying that they didn’t know what it was, Sister Ann Leitao, Patient Advocate, went and got the mop from the back of the room, and demonstrated its use. It saves water and is very effective in cleaning the rooms, preventing room to room contamination.

For more information about the award, please call Becky Clark at 650-563-7155. Courtney Conlon, Manager of Marketing and Communications can be reached for general information on Seton Coastside at 650-9916814

Moss Beach Medical Center a Recycling Winner State recognizes center’s outstanding recycling success

  MOSS BEACH – The Seton Medical Center Coastside in Moss Beach is one of California’s leading waste-cutters, reducing and recycling so well in 2006 that it earned top honors over more than 1,200 other businesses from the California Integrated Waste Management Board’s Waste Reduction Awards Program (WRAP).  The medical center joins a select circle of five other WRAP of the Year winners (WOTY) for 2006.

  "Seton Medical Center has accomplished an outstanding achievement in winning our WRAP of the Year award, for which I wholeheartedly congratulate them," said Board Member Rosalie Mulé. 

  In recognition of California businesses’ widespread commitment to cutting their excess disposal tonnages, the Board bestowed WRAP honors, some of the most coveted State workplace conservation awards, on 1,254 retail and commercial outlets that managed to make the bottom line even greener in 2006.  This year’s WRAP winners (1,254 businesses) diverted an estimated 1,207,827 tons of material, with a cost savings of approximately $112,213,589 to their bottom line.

  Five companies took top WRAP honors, including the San Mateo County winner below:

  Seton Medical Center Coastside in Moss Beach Seton Medical Center Coastside is a rural hospital located in Moss Beach, California. The facility holds a 116 bed Skilled Nursing Facility, a five-bed Acute Care unit and the only Emergency Department on the coast, between Santa Cruz and Daly City. In fiscal year 2005/06, Seton Medical Center Coastside saved in estimated $8,000 to $10,000 through waste reduction efforts and diverted more than 25 tons of materials from disposal. The majority of the facility’s waste reduction efforts are in the form of donation and recycling or reuse. While not saving much by way of dollars, the benefit is felt to be in the saving of natural resources and the environment. Exact measurement of all material diverted through reuse and donation is difficult due to the variety of items (medical equipment, electronic equipment, pallets, binders, clothes, linen, etc.), but reuse activities have become more and more creative as the staff’s environmental awareness has grown. The use of a document and data destruction service has ensured the facility’s compliance with federal regulations while still allowing for an almost 50 percent increase in paper recycling from fiscal year 2003 to fiscal year 2006. The 2001 implementation of "flat mop" system has resulted in annual cost savings of over $2,000, reduced floor chemical use by 75 percent, and enhanced patient safety by eliminating the threat of cross-contamination between rooms. Extensive use of an intranet vastly improved electronic communication capabilities between facilities. The availability of on-line policy and procedure manuals has furthered paper consumption reduction efforts by eliminating the need to distribute hard copy manuals to multiple departments. In addition to the intranet, upgrades and additions to internet services provided associates with access to "e-learning" options designed to assist them in fulfilling ongoing educational requirements. Results of this online training are maintained and reported to managers electronically, further reducing paper consumption. Previous Years Awarded: 2005

Innovative and environmentally conscientious businesses have helped move California to a waste reduction and recycling pinnacle, diverting enormous amounts of materials from landfills, conserving limited natural resources by re-marketing salvaged goods, cutting disposal related expenses and reaping financial gains from doing what’s right. 

Approximately half of the state’s 88 million-ton annual waste stream comes from the business sector and the WRAP awards honor California companies and nonprofits for workplace solutions to cut waste and reduce disposal. This year 1,254 businesses are being recognized for their commitment to a range of environmentally preferable business practices, including innovative reuse and recycling achievements, resource conservation, donating usable goods to nonprofit organizations, conducting employee education programs, buying recycled-content supplies for the workplace, and managing electronic waste responsibly. With better materials management, many businesses realize substantial savings in operating costs.

To search and view a complete list of local WRAP winners and their locations by county, please visit this site: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/WRAP/Search.asp.

Open to businesses and private, nonprofit organizations, the WRAP awards were initiated in 1993 to recognize California companies that develop innovative and aggressive programs to reduce the amount of nonhazardous solid waste they generate. To date, more than 15,000 WRAP honors have been awarded. For continuing, and often increasing, their waste reduction practices from year to year, many businesses have earned the award several times since the program started.

All WRAP awardees receive a certificate of recognition from the Chair and Members of the California Integrated Waste Management Board, as well as the right to use the WRAP logo for promotional advertising and publicity about their accomplishments.

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is the state’s leading authority on recycling and waste reduction.  It promotes reducing waste whenever possible, managing all materials to their highest and best use and protecting public health and safety and the environment. 

The California Integrated Waste Management Board is one of six boards, departments, and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA).