Mary Thomson has worked in renal nursing for almost 20 years, but in 2005-2008 she took a break and worked in the community, developing a programme for children aged 7-11 yrs to encourage active citizenship. A favourite activity was a visit to the local landfill site, where they saw composting & recycling on a huge scale.

Returning to the renal unit, Mary was taken aback by the lack of facilitates for segregating waste - 2 different coloured bags - take your pick! The plastic dialysate bottles being put to landfill and not even crushed! She decided to survey colleagues, asking about their recycling practices at home and aiming to find out "what happens to us when we come through the double doors to work"?

The results were clear - the majority of staff do recycle at home, and lack of information and facilities are preventing them from doing so at work. With their backing, Mary is now working to change this.

You can contact Mary for more information or advice via the Greener Healthcare Network on 2degrees - either send a personal message or post a general query on the forum. You can also download her staff questionnaire - please feel free to adapt it for your own use.