A sustainable solution for discarded hospital socks

Joni Lauri is a registered nurse at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital at Anschutz whose care of people extends far beyond the walls of the hospital.

He is a new graduate preceptor who enjoys all aspects of caring for post anesthesia care unit (PACU) patients, as well as looking for ways to reduce waste and do better for the planet.

He also collects socks. Lots of socks.

UCH’s PACU cares for anywhere between 80-110 patients per day. Every patient undergoing a surgical procedure gets a pair of yellow hospital socks, since the fall risk is high after receiving anesthesia. For the outpatient population especially, patients generally opt out on taking the socks home upon discharge.

“It’s always kind of bugged me that we are throwing away these perfectly good socks, especially in the outpatient center where procedures often take just hours and many of the socks never even touch the ground,” Lauri said.

The more he thought about it, he began to wonder, “If we can donate used clothing, why not single use socks?”

After gathering some data, Lauri discovered that just over 60% of outpatients opted not to take their socks home, and he was curious to see if someone might be interested in giving them a second life.

“While these socks are not exactly fashion forward, they are still useful,” Lauri said.

And so he went to work to explore what could be done about recycling the socks and gauging interest for where they might be of use.

The infectious disease team at UCH provided the guidance for an approved process to clean and distribute them: socks had to be from same-day surgery cases and those from isolation patients could not be recycled.

Lauri then educated staff on the process and placed collection bins in various areas of UCH’s perioperative unit to hold the discarded socks. He rounds every other week to collect them and takes them home where he thoroughly launders, pairs and neatly packs them into boxes for delivery to the Denver Rescue Mission and Mile High Behavioral Healthcare.

He is also actively seeking other charities that might be able to use them.

“The organizations I work with can only take so many, so I am always looking for other places who might be able to use them,” Lauri said.

Receiving organizations should be able to accept quantities of several boxes, which typically contain about 150 pairs. Since Lauri delivers them on his own time and the volume of incoming socks is more than several hundred every month, it is preferred that interested charities agree to take 4-5 boxes every few months.

Since starting the initiative in 2022, Lauri estimates that he has delivered approximately 1,000 pairs of socks to charitable organizations.

Chelsea Chapman, PACU associate nurse manager and colleague of Lauri, recognized Lauri’s efforts for championing this effort.

“Joni has the unique ability to see opportunities for growth when others perhaps would overlook them. It is not only a value add for people who could use clean socks, but a huge value add to planet Earth, a planet lucky to have Joni on it,” said Chapman in a Celebrating You recognition submitted for Lauri.

If you know of any organizations who could use clean, gently-used socks, please reach out to Lauri directly to discuss a donation.