AST Guideline - Environmental Practices in the Operating Room

14 2. The surgery department is also a significant source of energy generation that can benefit from energy conserving methods. 32 A. On an overall basis, the HDO should use onsite renewable energy if available, such as wind or solar power. 14 The HDO should complete a cost analysis of installing and using solar power. B. The surgery department should ensure that if one or more ORs are not being used, the lights should remain off. C. Some rooms, such as sterile storage or environmental storage closets, should have motion sensor lights installed. 14 D. Light-emitting diode (LED) bulbs are now available for use in OR lighting. 14 Guideline X The surgery department should participate with all other HDO departments in environmentally preferable purchasing. 1. The Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, a collaborative effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and American Hospital Association that leads the support of environmentally preferable purchasing defines it as the “act of purchasing products/services whose environmental impacts have been considered and found to be less damaging to the environment and human health when compared to competing products/services.” 13 A. Environmentally preferable purchasing has a direct environmental and public health impact in light of the studies that have shown the effects of current waste disposal practices. 11, 36 Waste reduction is directly related to purchasing, as most of what is purchased for the HDO eventually becomes the waste that requires disposal. 33 B. The Purchasing Department in collaboration with the Surgery Department should support environmentally preferable purchasing by identifying and purchasing supplies from vendors who use environmentally friendly raw materials and products. 16 C. Examples of other environmentally preferable purchasing surgery departments should support include: (1) Use only unbleached recycled paper instead of chlorine-bleached white paper since the manufacturing process of the latter releases dioxins as a by-product into water supplies. 1 By using 100% recycled paper, HDOs can decrease manufacturing energy by 44%, greenhouse gas emissions by 37%, and solid waste emissions and water use by 50%. 35 (2) Identify and purchase safer, more environmentally friendly cleaning products. (3) Purchase products that are free of diethylhexylphthalate , latex and polyvinyl chloride to decrease the incidence of allergic reactions, eye injuries, burns, and contamination of food and water supplies. 13, 35 (4) Purchase reusable sharps containers instead of disposable containers to reduce the amount of medical plastic. 28, 30 One study