to go green to make the change," he says.
Capture waste gases. BMC installed wall-mounted canister
systems in its ORs that capture all of the CO2 patients exhale.
The carbon is absorbed in pellets that are safe to throw away with
other medical waste. "In a lot of facilities, that waste reaches the out-
side environment as greenhouse gas emissions," says Mr. Maffeo.
Reprocess disposable devices. BMC works with a vendor that
reprocesses single-use devices, says Mr. Maffeo. Not only does
this prevent single-use devices from going directly to a landfill, it also
limits the need for BMC to buy reusable instruments and use
resources to endlessly reprocess them.
Trace the waste. Go on a "waste walk" to make sure the items
you recycle aren't ending up in the regular trash, suggests
Stephanie Barman, BSN, BA, RN, CNOR, staff circulating nurse and
GYN surgery coordinator at UnityPoint Health – Meriter, a partner of
UW Health in Madison, Wis. During her walk, Ms. Barman was sur-
prised to learn the items her team sorted into recycling bins in the ORs
were being thrown in a dumpster. She says following the waste
stream through your facility to see the different steps in the process
will reveal where problematic areas might be.
Segregate at the point of use. Ms. Barman says recycling
begins at the point of use. "As soon as packaging becomes
garbage, when you open the item onto the sterile field, that's when
you should sort it," says Ms. Barman. The onus is on the OR staff to
know what is and what isn't recyclable, but you can help their efforts
by placing recycling bins in convenient locations next to trash recep-
3
4
5
6
4 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A R C H 2 0 2 0
