Perioperative Recycling: Contributing to a Circular Healthcare Economy

Since the inception of the nursing profession, nurses have been innovative in innumerable ways to ensure that patients receive the best care possible. Nurses have shown innovation in not only caring for patients, but also identifying various ways to conserve supplies and reduce waste while ensuring that patients and personnel have the resources that they need. As nursing practice and the field of medicine continue to evolve, so does the demand for continued innovative practices.

There are several ways for individuals in the nursing profession to help reduce healthcare’s carbon footprint. There are standard programs for recycling materials such as paper, cardboard, plastics, and, more prevalent in recent years, some single-use surgical devices. However, there are lesser-known and -utilized recycling programs for materials such as surgical instrument wraps, electronics, and surgical stainless steel.

Clean surgical instrument wraps can be collected, processed, and reimagined into various products, such as tote bags. Surgical stainless steel is an opportunity not always recognized. Surgical stainless steel in the form of broken or unrepairable instruments is 100% recyclable without a reduction in quality that allows it to be reused for new stainless steel products.¹ ² ³ The prevalence of electronic devices in healthcare continues to grow by leaps and bounds; there is likewise a potential for the recycling or reusing of some of the higher-value components within electronic devices such as copper, silver, and gold. The recycling of electronics is an avenue with tremendous growth potential; while there is a pathway for recycling, it is only sporadically utilized. The term for this kind of sustainability can be referred to as circular healthcare or circular medicine as it is based on the idea of a circular economy.⁴

Circular economy can have varied definitions, depending on the involved stakeholders and the industry. However, the common theme among all the definitions is striving to make better use of resources, attempting to combine societal values with both economic and environmental impacts. Initiatives such as these are typically led by practitioners who embrace individual or group values with the purpose of applying them to help reduce waste through an economically sustainable approach. Sustainability may look different to different audiences, so it is important that your efforts to contribute to a circular economy are adequately planned to gain a solid foundation of support from your colleagues, leaders, and business managers. It’s more than recycling for the environmental impact; it is also creating cost and product sustainability within the healthcare system.

A study conducted in the Netherlands concluded that circular healthcare is not only feasible but resulted in the savings of approximately €40,000 over a six-month period focusing on stainless steel alone.² Potential areas of concern included adequate regulatory standards for reprocessing to ensure proper functionality, sterility, and patient safety. The Association of Medical Device Reprocessors advocates for the regulation, legislation, and standards associated with reprocessing single-use devices.

How to Get Involved

Many healthcare networks are launching green initiatives, so you can start inquiring within your own facility. If your facility has not started such initiatives, it awards you an opportunity to be at the forefront of significant change and make your mark on the evolving history of healthcare. There are multiple resources to help you get started or build upon an existing platform, including groups such as Practice Greenhealth or organizations such as Joint Commission International, which offers tools and even a certification in sustainability for your facility or network. Start your journey by gathering support and information to help you present a proposal to your leadership team to launch or contribute to a sustainability program.

There has also been an increase in some of the larger suppliers investing in healthcare sustainability; creating partnerships with such suppliers should be considered whenever new or replacement products are evaluated. Collaboration between suppliers and hospitals will help pave the way for creating such a circular healthcare economy and should be endorsed and encouraged at a facility and network level.⁴ Investing in the sustainability of healthcare does have a great potential for cost savings and overall financial sustainability, a consistent topic of discussion in every meeting, decision, or purchase involving a healthcare facility.

Applying nurses’ innate instinct to conserve and aptitude for innovation could just be the revolutionary spark that healthcare needs to change, adapt, and improve. Integrating sustainability practices into our daily routines ensures that we maximize the opportunities available to do our part. Nursing represents the largest group of the healthcare workforce; by supporting such programs and providing a conduit to solutions, you could be instrumental in ensuring the future of healthcare can be bright and green.

Sidebar 1. Resources

• Association of Medical Device Reprocessors. Accessed May 27, 2025.
• Healthcare Sustainability Certification. Joint Commission International. Accessed May 27, 2025.
• Practice Greenhealth Sustainable Procurement Guide. Practice Greenhealth. Accessed May 27, 2025.

References

1. Recycling. Specialty Steel Industry of North America. Accessed May 27, 2025.
2. van Straten B, Dankelman J, van der Eijk A, Horeman T. A Circular Healthcare Economy; a feasibility study to reduce surgical stainless steel waste. Sustain Prod Consump. 2021;27:169-175.
3. Stainless steel & special alloys. Bureau of International Recycling. Accessed June 24, 2025.
4. Syms R, Taylor-Robinson SD, Trovato G. Circular medicine - being mindful of resources and waste recycling in healthcare systems. Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2023;16:267-270. doi:10.2147/RMHP.S396667