Surgeons have an opportunity to serve as leaders and stewards of resources, especially operating room (OR) supplies. Engaging in resource stewardship provides an important pathway through which physicians can champion waste reduction and employ environmentally sound and cost conscientious decision-making. Additionally, this provides another avenue to demonstrate leadership to administration and nurse managers typically involved in decision making of OR policy, for example.

Estimates suggest that between 20% and 70% of health care waste originates from a hospital’s OR, and up to 90% of OR waste is improperly sorted and sent for costly and unneeded biohazardous waste processing ¹⁾.