How to make “single use” surgical items more sustainable

Surgery is a major medical contributor to the United Kingdom’s carbon emissions. Progress is being made on reusing surgical instruments and reducing hospital stays by increasing day case rates, but inertia and a lack of incentives are stalling further steps towards sustainability.Items that cannot be reused have become the enemy of efforts to tackle climate change. But in medicine—and particularly surgery—they are unavoidably common owing to fear of infection, a situation exacerbated by covid-19 and the use of personal protective equipment.“There’s clear evidence that reusing drapes, gowns, [and] metal equipment such as suture packs [and] instruments has a much lower carbon footprint than single use,” says Andrew Stevenson, consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon at Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and co-chair of the Royal College of Surgeons of England’s sustainability in surgery group. The NHS is responsible for nearly 5% of the UK’s carbon emissions, and operating theatres produce up to…
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