into the garbage because many don't realize it's recyclable, says Ms.
Witucki. "Many facilities just grab the box, open the supply and throw
away all the packaging," she says. "We place the boxes aside, flatten
them, and then they're collected with other recyclables. It only takes a
minute to separate them out, and it saves several hundred bags of
recyclables from going to the dump each year."
Lakewood also seeks out ways to recycle and cut down on its paper
usage, says Ms. Witucki. The hospital uses electronic charting, and
they recently switched their printers to default print on both sides.
That move alone has saved 225 reams of paper a month, she says.
Plus, staff know to place any piece of paper without patient infor-
mation — even post-it notes — in a designated bin that goes to recy-
cling. "Our surgery department is excellent at collecting informational
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