CS Mott Children’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, MI Rolls Out Recycling Program in Operating Rooms

SEATTLE (Waste Advantage): The University of Michigan’s CS Mott Children’s Hospital has launched a program to recycle medical plastics in operating rooms. The initiative took two years to launch, and the recyclable material is taken to a facility in Ohio for processing.  Michigan Medicine decided to pilot the program in operating rooms since they generate an enormous amount of medical waste each day.  “A lot of our procedures are big cases; we have a lot of supplies, a lot of instruments,” said nurse Jenna Christensen.

“Infection prevention is the key here in the hospital,” said senior mechanical engineer Christopher Victory. “We’re saving lives in the operating rooms, but we also know that we’re generating a lot of waste. There’s a lot of data out there that says basically that 25%–35% of all waste generated in a hospital can be attributed to the operating rooms. Which is why we’re focusing on the operating rooms first here with this initiative.”

As part of the initiative, operating room staff have been trained to place medical plastics from procedures into purple bags to be recycled.  “We tell everybody that if you can’t tear it, then you can put it into the plastics bin,” said nurse Annette Bull. “If you can tear it, like paper, then it has to go into the trash. Anything that is patient-contaminated can’t be recycled, but other than that, if it’s plastic, we can recycle it.”

 Courtesy: www.wasteadvantage.com