AST Guideline - Environmental Practices in the Operating Room

4 from departments responsible for implementing sustainability programs at the department level and ensuring their operation on a day-to-day basis. 3 B. Another option is subcommittees based upon the sustainability effort such as energy, purchasing, RMW, and water, or building systems such as HVAC, plumbing, electrical and waste. 3. The first important steps the SLC should take is assessing what types of waste the HDO produces, the volume of each type of waste that is produced, the cost of the disposal of each type of waste, and who is responsible for tracking and managing the waste stream. Appendix A provides a simple assessment checklist; however, it is recommended that surgery departments also utilize the Practice Greenhealth Greening the Operating Room  Checklist . 15, 34 A. The HDO may find that multiple people are responsible for tracking and managing specific types of waste, and do not coordinate their efforts that leads to unnecessary duplication of those efforts. B. Only by identifying the types, amounts, and costs for waste removal, and generating historical reports can the HDO move onto the next step of setting goals and tracking the sustainability efforts of the HDO. (1) The baseline assessment of costs should include fuel surcharges, container rental fees, sharps management fees, and any other separate fees related to waste management. 30 4. The second step of the process is goal setting that takes into consideration the employee, financial, and technical support, as well as time resources of the HDO. 31 The goals can be quantitative or qualitative, but they must be measurable and reportable to HDO administration in order to assess the “green” progress of the HDO. For example, the industry standard for RMW disposal rates is 15% or less; the HDO may set a goal of reducing RMW to less than 20% within one year and 15% or less in 18 months. 22, 30, 31 A. The following are recommended goals as related to the surgery department that can be communicated by the SLC to the surgery department subcommittee who is the operational team that executes the achievement of the goals. 3 (1) Develop an effective recycling program in the surgery department within 12 months; the goal should be to achieve a recycling rate of 15%. 33 (2) Promote conservation of water, particularly at the scrub sinks (see Standard IX for additional information). (3) Reduce the amount of RMW to less than 20% within one year . 33 (4) Promote energy conservation through the use of energy-efficient light bulbs (see Standard IX for additional information). (5) Reduce hazardous chemical use by 5% within one year. (6) Increase use of recycled products by 10% within one year. 33 (7) Increase use of reprocessed SUDs by 10% within one year (see Standard of Practice VI for additional information). (8) Implement the use of reusable sharps containers in every OR within 12 months (see Standard of Practice X for additional information). 33