Operating theatre produces approximately 2300Kg anaesthetics waste and 230Kg sharps waste per year which is incinerated at £750 per tonne. However, approximately 40% of anaesthetic waste could be reclassified as domestic waste, disposed at £80 per tonne, or recycling [1]. With the average waste disposal cost of domestic recycling costing £114 per tonnes and offensive waste (tiger bin bags) costing £241 per tonnes, it is clear that recycling not only has environment benefits but large costs saving opportunity for the NHS(2). With the introduction of recycling bins in the theatre settings we wanted to establish if staff members were aware of how to use these correctly.

Methods

Surveys were sent to all staff members involved in anaesthetics to establish a baseline understanding of what was being recycled and if this was correct according to the hospital site guidelines. This was achieved by sending out questionnaires with pictures of commonly used anaesthetic wastage and options for how each may be appropriately disposed of.

Results

Overall 31 out of 107 anaesthetic related staff members participated in the survey. For syringe packaging 80.6% correctly identified that this was recyclable but only 4 participants correctly described how it should be recycled. For drawing up needle packaging 83.9%, cannula packaging 61.3% and for empty saline and water ampoules 80.6% correctly identified these as being recyclable.

Discussion

Overall, we feel there was great enthusiasm and engagement with this survey highlighting the interest and desire staff members has to improve recycling habits but lacking an awareness of how to do this. The biggest realisation from this survey was the lack of communication of guidelines on how we should recycle from the hospital trust. We know that large amount of waste are produced by the NHS each year, this survey highlights an opportunity to further educate staff and hopefully reduce not only our environmental waste but also save money in correct waste disposal. The next step of this project would be with the East Kent Hospital NHS foundation Trust waste management lead to provided guidelines on recycling to staff and then re-survey so see if there has been an improvement on the correct knowledge of waste management.