Surgical instrument wrap: a pilot recycling initiative

Seven per cent of general waste and 20% of healthcare risk waste produced in acute hospitals in Ireland comes from operating theatres. Surgical wrap comprises 11% of operating theatre waste.

The primary aim of this study was to pilot the implementation of a recycling initiative for surgical instrument set wrap in an operating theatre in Ireland. Secondary aims included quantification of the surgical wrap diverted from general waste to recycling streams over a 5-week period and estimation of the annual carbon emissions associated with gynaecology surgical wrap use in Cork.

The amount of polypropylene surgical wrap generated by a single gynaecology theatre at Cork University Maternity Hospital was prospectively quantified from 24/1/22 to 1/3/22. At the end of the study period, individual sheets of polypropylene wrap were counted and dimensions were measured to calculate the total surface area of surgical wrap saved for recycling.

A total of 66 surgeries were performed over the 5-week study period. Two hundred twenty-one individual sheets of surgical wrap were collected, equating to 282.1 m² of polypropylene wrap. An estimated 11,564 m² of surgical wrap could be recycled annually from the gynaecology theatre service in Cork with an associated annual carbon emissions equivalent of at least 2.2 tonnes of CO₂.

Diversion of surgical wrap from general waste and clinical waste streams to the recycling stream is achievable in every operating theatre. Small changes to operating theatre waste disposal practices have the potential to yield significant reductions to theatre waste outputs and to hospital carbon emissions.