Print Email Facebook Twitter “O.R. GOES GREEN” Title “O.R. GOES GREEN”: a first step toward reducing our carbon footprint in the operating room and hospital Author Leone, Nicola (University of Turin) Scozzari, Gitana (Città della Salute e Delle Scienze Molinette) Olandese, Francesco (University of Turin) Horeman, T. (TU Delft Medical Instruments & Bio-Inspired Technology) Passera, Roberto (University of Turin) Arezzo, Alberto (University of Turin) Morino, Mario (University of Turin) Date 2024 Abstract Hospitals in Europe produce approximately 6 million tons of medical waste annually, about one-third of this originating in operating rooms. Most of it is solid waste, which can be recycled if bodily fluids do not contaminate it. Only 2–3% of hospital waste must be disposed of as infectious waste, and this is much lower than the 50–70% of garbage in the biohazard waste stream. In June 2021, at the main operating room of the Department of General Surgery of the University of Turin, we began a separate collection program for materials consisting of plastic, paper, TNT (material not contaminated by bodily fluids), and biohazardous waste. We calculated the number of boxes and the weight of special waste disposed produced every month in one operating room for 18 months. The monthly number of Sanibox and the monthly weight of biohazardous waste decreased during the observation period. The reduction trend was not constant but showed variations during the 18 months. Direct proportionality between number of low-complexity procedures and production of biohazardous waste was found (p = 0.050). We observed an optimization in the collection and filling of plastic, paper and TNT boxes separated and sent for recycling. One of the barriers to recycling hospital waste, and surgical waste in particular, is the failure to separate infectious waste from clean waste. A careful separate collection of waste in the operating room is the first step in reducing environmental pollution and management costs for the disposal of hospital waste. Subject Biohazardous wasteCarbon footprintEnvironment pollutionHospital wasteOperating roomSeparate collection waste To reference this document use: http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:59557f1c-676e-40d3-90a4-0861ee0ccd2e DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s13304-024-01793-8 ISSN 2038-131X Source Updates in Surgery Part of collection Institutional Repository Document type journal article Rights © 2024 Nicola Leone, Gitana Scozzari, Francesco Olandese, T. Horeman, Roberto Passera, Alberto Arezzo, Mario Morino Files PDF s13304-024-01793-8.pdf 1.13 MB Close viewer /islandora/object/uuid:59557f1c-676e-40d3-90a4-0861ee0ccd2e/datastream/OBJ/view