• June 6, 2012
• By Jeremy Carroll

Operating rooms produce 20% to 33% of all waste in hospitals in Canada and "greening" those operating rooms can save money and reduce the environmental impact, a study in the Canadian Medical Association Journal said.

Much of the waste in the operating room is subjected to specialized treatment, which is expensive and can have a negative impact on the environment, the study said.

"The operating room is a disproportionate contributor to health care waste and represents a high-yield target for change," wrote Yoan Kagoma of the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, University of Western Ontario's medical school, who was one of the co-authors of the study.

He said a single operation could produce more waste than a family of four produces for an entire week.

Among the suggestions to green the operating room, the authors said separating waste into separate streams for normal waste and biohazard or medical waste. An estimated 50% to 80% of normal waste is disposed as hazardous waste in the operating room, the study said.

The study also suggested partnering with medical equipment companies to promote the use of greener packaging, as packaging is a major contributor of waste. The study also suggests reprocessing single-use devices to make them suitable for reuse.

"Our analysis has shown that greening initiatives in the operating room are easily implemented, require low capital investment, have a short payback period and can generate substantial cost savings," Kagoma wrote.

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