Thermoplastics include plypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), PET, ABS, TPU, PLA, Nylon, Acrylic and others.
What is disposed in the sharps bin is often neither sharp nor contaminated. Increasing awareness of this practice may help reduce the amount of plastic being disposed of in this manner.
Looking out for plastic in the Operating Room that is not-contaminated and can be recycled but often ends up in the High Temperature Incineration (HTI) bags.
The most common drugs in the theatre are H20 (sterile water) and NaCl (sterile salty water). Are containers for these substances contaminated? No. Let’s recycle them.
The remifentanyl caps weigh only 0.2g and have to have a piece of metal extracted from them. One kilogram of polyropylene will take over 16 hours of work just removing the metal. Therefore, this is very unlikely to be recycled
This plastic is sterile, opened, and then placed into the High Temperature Incineration (HTI) bin just because it has touched a glove of someone who has touched an instrument of someone who has touched a patient. Is this necessary.