After removing more than 25 million single-use plastic items from its sites in just 18 months, Ramsay Health Care is committing to swap out a total of 50 million single-use plastic items - such as medicine cups, anaesthetic and injection trays - for environmentally friendly alternatives.

In the 18 months, Nowra Private Hospital has replaced 257,000 single use plastic items with more sustainable alternatives.

In this period, all Ramsay Health Care sites have also switched from single-use plastics water bottles for patients to reusable alternatives, saving an estimated nine million additional items from landfill.

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CEO of Nowra Private Hospital, Prue Buist, said the company and staff are committed to working toward this even loftier target by the end of 2022.

"There's such a significant amount of rubbish that is disposed of in a hospital that most people would be horrified as to what actually gets thrown away," she said.

"So it's wonderful to be able to use items that have an emphasis on sustainability, and making sure that we're doing the right thing by the community and the environment."

Ramsay Health Care's partnership with Baxter Health Care to recycle PVC into garden hoses has meant that 11 bins, which roughly equates to 261 kg of PVC have been saved from landfill.

"We've recycled all of our PVC which comes from our fluid bags and IV tubing," said Ms Buist.

"And we've been doing a lot of work around energy efficiency, specifically around consumables, like medicine cups, which have always been little plastic cups that we would dispose of and straws for patients.

"They've gone to paper options, or ones that are recyclable and can break down."

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