Sustainability interventions in nursing wards
ADL
Recycling incontinence materials
Incontinence materials are used for various patient groups in hospitals. By processing incontinence materials as a separate waste stream, resources can be recovered and reused.
Intervention
Separate collection and recycling of incontinence materials.
Exclusion: Incontinence materials with traces of cytostatics.
Environmental impact
Measured in CO₂ emissions, based on waste separation and recovery of raw materials from incontinence materials.
Implementation approach
- Due to limited capacity at the current Is waste-to-energy plant that recycles incontinence materials, no new contracts can be established at this time. If your hospital is interested in this intervention, please inform the Greening healthcare together programme team.
- Beforehand, assess how many kilograms of incontinence material your hospital would like to offer for recycling. Once the total demand from hospitals is clear, the programme team can explore whether scaling up is possible.
When is it implemented?
This intervention is considered implemented when incontinence material in the hospital is separately collected for recycling, and the difference in CO₂-equivalent (kg) has been calculated.
How is this measured?
Determine the number of kilograms of incontinence material that is separately collected for recycling using waste management data and fill in the environmental impact calculation tool*.
Resources
Click here for more information about the recycling process.
Click here for an example from Sophia Children's Hospital where incontinence material is separately collected for recycling.
Click here for an example from the UK, where a separate collection method for incontinence material was introduced on a pediatric ward.
Footnotes
*The environmental impact calculation tool follows
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View our other interventions
Nursing practice
Reusable non-sterile suture removal set
A suture removal set contains sterile disposable materials such as gauze, cotton swabs, tweezers, and scissors or a stitch cutter. The tweezers and scissors do not need to be sterile and can be replaced by clean, reusable ones that are cleaned and disinfected. This means the final sterilisation step is omitted after cleaning and disinfection. Mechanical cleaning (thermal disinfection) is preferred over manual cleaning.
General resources
Reducing glove use
Nurses use large quantities of non-sterile gloves during patient care. There are three situations where gloves are required: 1) when caring for patients in isolation 2) when there is a risk of contact with mucous membranes or bodily fluids 3) when preparing certain medications. Wearing gloves as a standard practice is not recommended1. Due to the high consumption rates in hospitals, gloves have a considerable environmental impact2.
Nursing practice
Replacing IV lines every seven days
IV lines, the part of the infusion system that remains outside the body and connects to the intravenous catheter, are currently replaced every four days to prevent infections. Research shows that replacing IV systems every seven days does not increase the risk of infection. This saves materials and time for nurses.
