Authors (including presenting author) :
Li CT (1), Chu HM (1), Chan CS (1), Lam WS (1)
Affiliation :
1. Department of Anaesthesia, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, HKEC
Introduction :
Public hospital has disposed increasing amount of clinical wastes over the past few years. Operating theatres (OT) contribute to a significant proportion of the hospital wastes. The increasing use of disposable and personal protective equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic further worsened the situation. Previous audit showed about 23% of the wastes produced in OT were actually recyclable, of which 25% is generated by anaesthetists. While recycling has been launched in our institute, the habit of waste management was not yet audited.
Objectives :
This study aimed to figure out the quantity and recyclability of anaesthetic wastes in our OT. We would also compare our result with previous overseas studies.
Methodology :
Anaesthetic wastes from elective operating cases were collected in a randomly selected weekday. The anaesthetic wastes were labelled after collection to garbage so to blind our colleagues from the audit and differentiate them from other wastes generated in OT. Investigators in full PPE sorted the wastes and categorized them into recyclable, non-recyclable and uncertain recyclability. The weight of wastes was measured by digital weight to the nearest 0.001kg.
Result & Outcome :
Anaesthetic wastes from 18 elective cases and 6 induction rooms were weighed and sorted. Among the total anaesthetic wastes (22.738kg), 23.9% was potentially recyclable. These were mainly composed of 16.3% (3.695kg) plastic and 7.7% (1.752kg) paper. 8.8% was of uncertain recyclability which included opened but unused items. The proportion of recyclable wastes in spinal anaesthesia (23.2%) and general anaesthesia (25.6%) were comparable. In average, each GA case produced 0.47kg more anaesthetic wastes than each SA case. The proportion of recyclable wastes produced in the induction rooms was also similar to that produced in OT (25%).
Still a significant proportion of our wastes produced were potentially recyclable. Possible barriers to recycling could be the inconvenient location of the recycling bins, inadequate staff education, and the preferential use of disposable items during the COVID-19 pandemic which produced lots of wastes due to packaging. Despite the existing Green initiatives, we shall make further effort to promote recycling in our working environment. We should apply the five Rs: recycling, reusing, reducing, rethinking, and researching in our anaesthetic practice.
