8 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 • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 6
After a case at the Madison (Wisc.)
Surgery Center, you'll find 3 piles of waste
stacked high — paper, plastic and drapes
— and a much smaller pile of garbage.
"We recycle everything here: paper,
plastic, even the paper drapes instru-
ments are wrapped in," says CJ
Marchant, RN, BSN, a circulating nurse
and a founding member of Madison's
Green Team.
As staff open drapes, gowns and Mayo
stand covers, they're careful to peel off
the paper and hard plastic wrappings so
they can segregate the recyclable materi-
als into the proper piles. Staff place paper and glass medication vials
into the 13-gallon green recycling bin lined with a plastic bag that sits
in each of the 5 ORs and 5 procedure rooms. Plastic wrappers go into a
smaller plastic bag that hangs from the bin's handle. Last year,
Madison diverted 4,738 pounds of waste and saved $61,210 in disposal
costs, says Administrative Director Deb Plendl, RN, MSN.
After Madison recycles all that it can, it looks to reprocess all the
instruments that it can. They started slowly, at first just reprocessing
compression stockings and tourniquet cuffs. Now they're reprocessing
arthroscopic shavers and burrs, as well as endoscopic trocars and
scissor tips. And they're saving money when they buy back the
reprocessed instruments. Madison pays about $23 for a reprocessed
arthroscopic shaver compared to nearly $50 for a new one.
• SUSTAINABILITY The Madison (Wisc.) Surgery Center's
recycles and reprocesses all that it can.
Madison
(Wisc.)
Surgery
Center
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT
Recycling and Reprocessing All That They Can
Awards Issue
