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S U S T A I N A B L E
S U C C E S S
organized — often by set — in containers and are less likely to be
inadvertently wrapped in back table covers and accidentally thrown
away.
Representatives from MetroWest Medical Center in Natick, Mass.,
say blue wrap can account for 19% of the total waste generated in the
OR and is often thrown out with regulated medical waste. After
investing $75,000 in 2010 for 211 rigid containers, the facility saved
close to $30,000 in avoided blue wrap purchasing costs and diverted
about 5,600 lbs. of blue wrap from the center's waste stream. That
added up to a 40% payback on the containers in the first year alone.
4. Install
LED lights
While it's difficult to
directly measure the
energy-saving benefits
of light-emitting diode
surgical lights in ORs
that aren't submetered, a conversion
from halogen surgical
lights to LEDs conducted at Kaiser
Permanente hospitals
F E B R U A R Y 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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