medical devices | After Single Use

A researcher lays out the many components of a seemingly simple single-use jacket.

Deconstructing Devices: Uncovering the Plastics Behind Medical Innovation

Peeling back the layers of medical devices, this hands-on workshop revealed the hidden complexity - and environmental cost - of plastics in modern healthcare. What lies beneath matters.

Green and blue plastic materials from medical devices and PPE and laid out on a white table.

The risks of single-use medical plastics on human and environmental health at the EDCMA SoMA 2026

Presentations

Millie Marriott Webb presented research on the human and environmental impacts of single-use medical plastics at the student-led SoMA 2026 Medical Anthropology and the Technocene conference.

After the Single Use researcher Akhilesh Bonthu presenting a paper at a lecture in a room with wooden panelling behind him and a projector screen.

Single-use plastics in forensic medicine: exploratory study at Telangana State Annual Forensic Medicine Conference 2026

Presentations

After the Single Use researcher Akhilesh Bonthu presented new research on the use of single-use plastics in forensic autopsy settings at the Telangana State Annual Forensic Medicine Conference 2026.

Image of Khoudia Sow with a blue vase behind her.

13 May 2025

15th Scientific Days CRCF/ANRS MIE: Rethinking medical device for reuse, renewal and resilience

At the 15th Scientific Days organised by the Regional Centre for Research and Training in HIV Care (CRCF), Khoudia Sow introduced After the Single Use to an audience of Senegalese,…

Photo of Jeremy Greene with a blue background.

24 Jul 2025

Plastics and healthcare: Navigating the balance among access, health, and sustainability

At a WHO workshop, Jeremy Greene outlines the PASS-UP model—a practical framework for cutting single-use plastics in global healthcare.

After the Single Use researchers stand together in front of a presentation screen in a conference room.

The Plastic Hospital: How Healthcare Learned to Throw Things Away

Blog posts

Reflections on the 2025 European Association for the History of Medicine and Health conference, where project members organised a panel and launched two new books, Bruno J. Strasser introduced The Mask: A History of Breathing Bad Air and Anne Kveim Lie and Jeremy Greene launched Medicine on a Larger Scale: Global Histories of Social Medicine.

A researcher holds up one of several bottles containing parts of a Malaria RDT kit.

Dissecting Disposable Medical Devices: Who do Single-Use Plastics Really Affect?

Are single-use medical plastics really safer - or just shifting harm elsewhere? This workshop unpacked the hidden risks, toxic legacies, and overlooked impacts of disposable healthcare devices.

Professor Anne Kveim Lie talking in an academic setting with three figures in the background.

01 Jun 2025

Norwegian health publication ‘Dagens Medisin’ feature After the Single Use

Anne Kveim Lie spoke to Norwegian health publication ‘Dagens Medisin’ about disposable medical equipment, healthcare waste, and the growing need for systemic change.

A range of autoinjector types: reusable, smart and single use.

Inside Medical Technology UK 2025: Is Sustainability Back in the Basement?