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If you find yourself coming to The Ottawa Hospital for a surgical procedure this spring, you may notice your surgeon sporting a bright green gown.
These gowns are “green” in more ways than one, however.
The Ottawa Hospital is finding safe, innovative ways to reduce medical waste in its operating rooms by using more environmentally sustainable products. Most recently, we made the shift from disposable surgical gowns to ones that could be washed and reused.
By moving away from disposable products made of plastic that end up sitting in landfills for centuries, operating room staff can continue to do their job providing life-saving care to patients, while also being friendlier to the planet.
The impact of going from disposable to reusable
Single-use linens are one of the biggest sources of waste produced in operating rooms — so opting for more sustainable alternatives can have a significant environmental impact.
Before making the change to these new, greener gowns last November, The Ottawa Hospital used to go through over 500 disposable gowns per day across its Civic, General and Riverside campuses. This transition is expected to decrease the hospital’s annual waste by nearly 33,000kg per year.
Today, all of The Ottawa Hospital’s operating rooms are equipped with reusable surgical gowns, significantly reducing our medical waste output and carbon footprint.
What is a reusable surgical gown?
Unlike disposable surgical gowns, which are made of plastic and get thrown away after only one wear, a reusable surgical gown can be cleaned, sterilized and worn again, just like regular clothes.
Here’s how it works:
- Once a surgery is completed, hospital staff remove their gowns and place them in a special bag.
- This bag then gets sent off to a laundry service that specializes in washing and sterilizing linens used in health-care spaces, such as hospitals and long-term care homes.
- The clean gowns are then delivered back to The Ottawa Hospital, ready for the next surgery.
Reusable gowns are also repairable. If a gown rips during surgery, the same laundry service that cleans it can also sew up the tear.
Finally, because they’re made of linen and not plastic, the new gowns have the added bonus of being much more breathable to wear — an important feature for the hospital staff who work in them throughout long surgical procedures.
Building a greener hospital
Surgical gowns are just the start.
For example, The Ottawa Hospital has already made the switch to using biodegradable exam gloves. Keen-eyed visitors may have even spotted the reusable cups, new LED lighting and better recycling stations at the Civic, General and Riverside campuses.
These green initiatives are all driven by The Ottawa Hospital’s commitment to being a leader in sustainable health care and contributing positively to a healthier planet.
You can learn more about these initiatives in The Ottawa Hospital’s 2025 Environmental Sustainability Report.
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