Table 2.
Financial and environmental benefits of green initiatives
| Reference | Topic | Financial and environmental benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Peters et al. 2021 | Flexible on-call site for radiology trainees | Reduce commuting distance and resultant reduction in CO2 emissions by 4.3 tonnes of CO2 |
| McLeod 2021 | Recycling medical plastics | Disposing medical plastics as solid waste costs USD 121 per ton compared to USD 68 per ton recycling same material |
| Reducing air exchanges when operating rooms are not in use | Saved USD 2 million a year | |
| Installing HVAC occupancy sensors in 2 operating rooms | Reduced 25,000 kW per hour energy use and saved USD 4,000 dollars per year | |
| Hainc et al. 2020 | Changing the wait period of reporting stations stand-by from four hour to one hour, and then turning the reporting stations off completely | Estimated annual saving of 23, 692 kWh, equivalent of saving 45% of initial power consumption |
| Brassil and Torreggiani 2019 | 13.5% of general waste consisted of recyclable materials and 16.5% of clinical waste comprised of packaging and paper that could be diverted to recycling stream | 391 tonnes of materials could have been recycled, saving hospital waste management costs of up to €33,000 (USD 32,526) |
| Demmert et al. 2019 | Incentives (USD 5 coffee gift cards) were given to staff who used soon-to-expire equipment | USD 135,859.65 worth of equipment was successfully used prior to expiry |
| Azouz et al. 2019 | Implement recycling educational program | Saved 10.3% in sharps waste disposal cost, cost decreased from USD 665.28 to USD 596.66 |
| Babu et al. 2019 | Recycling blue wrap over 39 days | Saved 31.2 cubic feet of landfill space |
| Extrapolated to yield USD 5,000 in revenue each year and save USD 174,240 from cost avoidance related to decreased disposal and transport costs | ||
| Estimated to save 18,837.5 gallons of oil, equivalent to 158,786 kWH of energy across the whole hospital | ||
| Hubbard et al. 2017 | Disposing of anaesthesia-related waste in standard waste bins prior to patient entry into operating room | Annual reduction of 13,800 kg of regulated medical waste and a cost savings of USD 2,200 |
| Perrego 2017 | Mandatory online learning module for all perioperative staff members | 41% reduction in total mass of regulated waste and 77% reduction in total mass of non-regulated items. This translated to an estimated USD 7,200 reduction in regulated waste cost per annum |
| Wyssusek et al. 2016 | Segregating clinical waste from general waste | Approximately 60% reduction of waste disposal costs for operating room waste and saving of USD 5,790 per month |
| Further implementation of recycling | Increased overall cost reduction of approximately 80%, which was approximately USD 7,800 in savings per month | |
| Weiss et al. 2016 | Installing water saving retrofits throughout OT | Saved USD 13,750 per year in water usage costs |
| Albert and Rothkopf 2015 | Initiating single-stream recycling | Three campuses saved USD 3,487 per month, extrapolating to a saving of USD 41,844 per year |
| Wormer et al. 2013 | Powering down all anaesthesia and OT lights and equipment not in use | Saved USD 33,000 and reduced 234.3 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year |
| Reusing batteries | Saved USD 9,238 and 500 pounds of alkaline waste was diverted from landfills | |
| Swapping from scrub soap to alcohol-based waterless scrub solutions | Estimated 2.7 million litres of water saved | |
| Southorn et al. 2013 | Recycling and segregating waste generated from joint replacement procedures appropriately | Estimated 75% carbon footprint reduction via reduction of incineration of misclassified clinical waste nationwide in UK |
| Estimated £420,000 (USD 474,967) cost saving per year | ||
| Prasanna et al. 2011 | Shutting down workstations and monitors after an 8-h workday in the radiology department | Saved 83,866.6 kWh of electric consumption and USD 9,225.33 annually. Equivalent of removing 11.6 cars off the road, saving 14.9 barrels of oil or 39 tonnes of coal |
| Saver 2011 | Changing to reusable sharp containers | Annual saving of USD 70,000 |
| Conrardy et al. 2010 | Recycling surgical towels, gowns, table covers, stainless steel basins and Mayo stand covers | Reduced waste generation by 45,000 lb and save USD 12,600 from regulated medical waste disposal cost in a hospital that conducted 10,000 surgical procedures a year |
| Switching from disposable to reusable surgical gowns | Cut down USD 38,000 and reduced 63,000 kg of waste | |
| Saver 2009 | Refitting the OR with LED lights and low-mercury lamps | Saved approximately 340,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of energy annually, which is equivalent to saving USD 40,000 per year |
| Substituting conventional electricity with clean and sustainable sources of energy via getting Green Tag renewable energy certificate | Reduced carbon emission by 265,000 lb per month | |
| McGain et al. 2008 | Recycling plastics from the operating room | Saved AUD 20 (USD 13) per week from recycling 200 kg of plastics |