Operating theatres produce 20-33% of total hospital waste, including up to 60% of the hospitals’ regulated medical waste. Ensuring we reduce, reuse and recycle where possible can have a substantial impact on costs ($ and eCO2) and waste.
An example of streams that are easy to recycle in a tertiary hospital is available on the below poster from Fiona Stanley Hospital in Western Australia.
Recycling is cost effective
Much waste generated in healthcare facilities can be recycled at a substantially lower cost compared to clinical waste or general waste. Some indicative numbers from circa 2018 compare various waste streams. Note that the default in some organisations is for all clinical waste to end up as medical (infectious) waste, which is expensive and can be incinerated, generating further emissions.
| 2018 costs per tonne | 2021 costs per tonne | |
| Medical waste | $1410 | $2600 |
| Diathermy pens, Surgical single use metal instruments, laparoscopes, contaminated hard plastics | $990 | $1200 |
| Syringe recycling | $N.A | $1200 |
| General waste | $182 | $225 |
| Co-mingled recycling | $40 | $75 |
| PVC recycling and Huck towels | $0 | $0 |
| Sterile wrap (Kimguard) | ? | ? |
eWaste is also another key element – social enterprise “Pony Up for Good” is used by health services in Australia to securely erase data and recycle/reuse devices.
Example Recycling Posters
Hi there, just after some suggestions I currently work at Busselton Theatres as a Anaesthetic Tech.
Just hoping to get rid of Pentothal Trays and just offering paper mache kidney dishes or just using Anaestheis trolley and cleaning after each case with Clinelle wipes most of our Anaesthetists are on board but some are wondering about sterility of end of syringe if not capped I did suggest a small plastic when opened up cut down side so you get about 6 uses just using top layer but then I thought Im just replacing plastic for plastic .So any thoughts for what the Anaesthetists can use.
Hi there, just after some suggestions I currently work at Busselton Theatres as a Anaesthetic Tech.
Just hoping to get rid of Pentothal Trays and just offering paper mache kidney dishes or just using Anaestheis trolley and cleaning after each case with Clinelle wipes most of our Anaesthetists are on board but some are wondering about sterility of end of syringe if not capped I did suggest a small plastic when opened up cut down side so you get about 6 uses just using top layer but then I thought Im just replacing plastic for plastic .So any thoughts for what the Anaesthetists can use.
Reply
Reply to Ellen Fitzgerald
Hi Ellen, thanks for reaching out. At Fiona Stanley we use hard plastic kidney dishes, which we reuse (cleaning with oxivir wipes, similar to clinelle I believe). The party line is that the kidney dishes are clean but not sterile, so syringe tips should be capped with a needle or cap or vial or something! Sterile plastic sheets are available and are used by some anaesthetists but the point is made that we plonk vials and other ‘things’ on the sterile sheet, which renders it no-longer sterile, so why not just use the top of the trolley and wipe it down between cases. Good luck. I’ve also replied to this post on the WA Health Green THeatres network Teams Group for ongoing banter. Cheers, James