Reducing waste and emissions in the operating room

Operating rooms produce around a third of a hospital's waste and a large share of its scope 1 emissions, mostly from anaesthetic gases and single-use consumables. AZ Groeninge (27 operating rooms) and ZAS (44 operating rooms across five campuses) have both committed to halving surgical waste by 2030 and want to test solutions together instead of one by one.

We are looking for three types of solutions: reusable or reprocessable alternatives to high-volume single-use items (drapes, gowns, instrument trays, laparoscopic instruments), capture or destruction of anaesthetic gases, and measurement tools that give a surgical team a per-procedure footprint without manual data entry. Solutions should already be CE-marked where a medical device is involved, and ready for a six-month pilot in at least two operating rooms per hospital.

Both hospitals offer a pilot environment with a named surgical lead, access to sterilisation and purchasing, and baseline waste and gas measurements from 2025 to compare against. Results will be shared with all Conexco members, and the facility managers of the other member hospitals sit in on the feedback meeting.

The call opens on 2 November 2026 and closes on 15 January 2027. Pitches take place on the Friday afternoons in January and February; consolidated feedback follows by mid-March 2027. Submit through the intake form once the call is open; the form will carry the call tag automatically.