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Project
Focus
Aged Care
Sector Joins the Sustainability Challenge
An exciting initiative looking to improve the
environmental performance of aged care facilities is starting to yield significant water savings for
participating facilities.
Aged care operators participating in the program can
access technical assistance to identify water saving opportunities and financial assistance to make
them happen. There are two packages available under the program – one offering ozone laundry
systems, the other offering a leak detection and water management plan program.
Together, the two packages are expected to deliver
water savings of over 120 million litres per annum.
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Geoff Homann (left) from O3 Wash, Jo
O’Brien and Brian Fitzgerald
with the new ozone laundry system at John
Paul Village.
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One of the first aged care facilities to benefit from
the program has been John Paul Village, a 163 bed facility located in Heathcote, southern Sydney. In
November of 2007, General Manager Brian Fitzgerald installed an EnviroSaver II ozone laundry system
into their facility and in doing so, qualified for $10,255 in funding support from the Program.
Ozone is a powerful bleach, 3,000 times more
effective than chlorine, and in low concentrations can clean and sanitise laundry much more
efficiently than traditional washing methods.
“Not only are we doing the right thing by the
environment by reducing water consumption and preventing harmful greenhouse gas emissions, but we
are making our facility more economically sustainable by reducing our costs. Our staff and residents
are also very pleased because the linen is now whiter and softer than before” said Mr
Fitzgerald.
Meanwhile over at Elizabeth Lodge in Rushcutters Bay,
a 126 bed aged care facility owned by Anglican Retirement Villages, detection equipment has
identified a leak on the site which is wasting 15 litres of water per minute, or around 8 million
litres every year. The next step is to find the leak and plug it.
Data consumption from Elizabeth Lodge showing an
overnight flow rate (leak) of 15L per minute, or 22kL per day.
ARV Asset Manager, John Shearsby, can see the
immediate benefits of the Greening Grey Program:
“ARV have entered the program with an open mind
and now we are starting to see the returns, both financially and doing the right thing for the
environment. We would recommend the program to any other aged care provider thinking of
joining.”
With over $1m of funding from the NSW
Government’s Climate Change Fund, the Greening Grey Program is an initiative of the Aged
Care Association of Australia (ACAA-NSW) in conjunction with the Aged
and Community Services Association (ACS). Program Partners also include O3
Wash Pty Ltd, the Water
Conservation Group and Demand
Manager Pty Ltd. For more information on the Greening Grey Facilities Program, visit the
program website.
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