The True Negative Financial & Environmental Cost of
Disposable Cubicle Curtains
In the United States, there are 1.2 million hospital beds with privacy cubicle curtains that should be changed out no less than twice monthly on average because of contamination. For example, a standard size privacy cubicle curtain is 216" W X 84" L or 216" W x 96" L, which represents 2.4 million curtains monthly.
On an annual basis, this represents 28,800,000 disposable polypropylene curtains being deposited in our landfills or, even worse, incinerated into our atmosphere.
Please read the following articles representing the true environmental and economic cost of disposable cubicle curtains showing they are not the best option for Healthcare facilities.
References:
1. Aug 18, 2016
by Wendy Glauser Jeremy Petch Sachin Pendharkar
Are disposable hospital supplies trashing the environment?
https://healthydebate.ca/2016/08/topic/hospital-medical-waste/
2. InStyle: Benefits of Reusable Curtains / Blog 16/03/2018
Https://Instyle.com.AU/Benefits-of-Reusable-Curtains/
3. University of Maryland Medical Center: Reusable Textiles in the OR
HTTPS://PRACTICEGREENHEALTH.ORG/SITES/DEFAULT/FILES/UPLOAD-FILES/CASESTUDY_UOFMD_R6_WEB.PDF
4. National Library of Medicine: An Environmental Analysis of Reusable and Disposable Surgical Gowns