Reducing health-care waste: how we are making a difference
Across VCH, teams are making thoughtful changes to reduce health-care waste while continuing to deliver safe, high-quality care.
Caring for people also means caring for the planet. While operating rooms occupy only a small portion of our hospital space, they generate an estimated 20 to 33 per cent of total hospital waste. That reality has prompted teams across Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) to rethink longstanding practices and find innovative ways to reduce waste, lower our environmental footprint and support planetary health.
One of the most impactful changes began with a closer look at the tools prepared for surgery. Each procedure relies on a “surgical pick list,” a predefined set of instruments and supplies. Over time, these lists became highly variable, shaped by individual surgeon preferences and expanded with additional tools added “just in case.” Because pick lists were rarely reviewed, many items that were seldom used continued to be prepared for every surgery. Instruments were opened, left untouched and ultimately discarded.
Our Sustainable Clinical Services team set out to change that. By reviewing which instruments were used during common surgeries at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), and working closely with surgeons, we developed a more consistent and efficient approach to building pick lists.
Once fully implemented, more than 90 per cent of items on surgical pick lists will be standardized, and the total number of instruments required is expected to drop by half. This change will significantly cut waste while also saving valuable setup time for surgical teams and lowering costs, demonstrating that sustainability and efficiency can go hand in hand.
A similar spirit of innovation has taken hold in Richmond Hospital’s operating rooms. For years, anesthesia teams relied on single-use plastic corrugated breathing tubes that were sent to landfill after each procedure. Richmond Hospital alone was disposing of about 100 tubes every week.
Determined to find a better solution, anesthesia aides researched alternatives and identified a type of tubing that could be safely disinfected to meet strict infection prevention and control standards. Their efforts led to the adoption of a new product that immediately reduced waste to just eight tubes per week, a remarkable 92 per cent reduction.
What began in Richmond has since expanded to operating rooms at VGH, Lions Gate Hospital, the University of British Columbia (UBC) Hospital and Sechelt | shíshálh Hospital. By making the same switch, these sites are preventing thousands of tubes from entering landfill each year.
This collective effort shows how small, thoughtful change, when scaled across our system, can have meaningful impact on planetary health.
Together, these initiatives reflect a growing movement across VCH, where sustainability, clinical excellence and patient care are deeply connected. By empowering teams to identify waste-reduction opportunities and supporting innovative solutions, we are building a health-care system that protects both the health of people and the health of our environment.
Our environmental progress at a glance
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14 per cent less water used
at sites since 2010
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11 per cent less energy used
(per square metre) at sites since 2007
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16 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions
(from buildings, vehicles, paper, and refrigerants) since 2007
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11 per cent more staff using public transit
commuting to work 2023 to 2024
