Medical waste: reducing its generation.

1. Materials that can be recycled have yet to be proven to be a more cost-effective means of reducing medical waste. The literature indicates that the efficacy of reusable textiles is at least equal to that of some disposables--and reusable items reduce the generation of blood-contaminated waste. 2. The perioperative nursing community should consider replacing single-use items with materials intended for multiple uses. 3. "Source reduction" entails the replacement of single-use items with reusable items. Successful source-reduction programs require changes in individual and collective behavior patterns. 4. Recycling of materials renders them suitable for another use in a product similar to that in which they were originally used. On the other hand, reprocessing is an all-descriptive term of what must be done to an item to render it suitable for another identical use.