Healthcare waste is an unforeseen calamity around the world. The US health system produces a staggering 6 billion tons of waste annually. 1 Over 30% of total healthcare waste comes from the operating room (OR). 1 Between 50 and 80% of this OR waste is accumulated prior to the patient even entering the OR. 2 , 3 Therefore, the majority of OR waste is clean, uncontaminated, and much of it can be recycled. The absolute requirement for sterility during surgery has led to the custom practice of single-use equipment that is packaged in large volumes of sterile packaging, all of which is discarded after surgery. Plastic from packaging, single-use equipment, monitoring equipment, and many other sources contributes one quarter of total OR waste, and most of this can be recycled (see Table 1). 4 , 5