Making a medical practice more sustainable means rethinking current waste disposal methods while still meeting governmental guidelines for the management of biohazardous waste, according to an article on The Environmental Magazine website.
Common sense solutions include reducing non-hazardous waste by reusing materials.
Facilities can recycle many single-use devices (SUDs). For example, the San Diego branch of Kaiser Permanente switched to recycling SUDs and in doing so saved approximately $300,000 in just one year.
Also, surgical facilities can reduce waste by eliminating unnecessary items from their surgical kits.