Improving medical textiles to create a greener operating theatre

Abstract

By generating almost 5% of the world’s carbon emissions, healthcare, if it were a country, would be the world’s fifth biggest polluter and for the UK in 2017, the health sector alone was responsible for 4.4% of its net global greenhouse gas emissions and 6.3% of that country’s carbon footprint. In 2020, the UK National Health Service became the first health service to announce its intention to achieve Net Zero emissions. Between 20% and 33% of health care waste is thought to originate from a hospital’s operating rooms and up to 90% of this is sent for unnecessary hazardous-waste disposal. Current practice allows the use of disposable or re-usable textile items but textile products can still account for up to 30% of the waste generated within an operating theatre. This paper explains the steps that those working in textile product development and those working in healthcare can take to reduce the textile-related carbon footprint and, in particular, to how medical textile items, such as gowns and drapes can be selected to produce a lower carbon footprint. Attention is also paid to how reusable textiles can be microbiologically decontaminated and laundered in the most economical and ecologically-acceptable fashion. The paper draws attention to the need for willingness to implement already-existing solutions for environmentally-acceptable personal protective equipment (PPE) and low carbon-footprint laundry processes for the cleaning and microbiological decontamination of all types of re-usable textiles employed within the operating theatre. Where redesign of PPE is required, the need is stressed for sensitive adjustment of standards to support the implementation of reusable forms, whilst maintaining the original high performance requirements expected in actual use.