sustainability | After Single Use

An advertisement for a plastic glove called "White Knight". The saturated Norwegian advertisement shows a single hand in the glove with annotations about its benefits.

03 Mar 2026

Hand in glove: the history of the disposable glove at HSS 2024

Anne Kveim Lie presented new research on the history of the disposable glove at the History of Science Society Annual Meeting 2024.

A black and white still from a medical film. The nurse pictured has a mask covering the face and hair, only the eyes of the person are shown in concentration.

10 Feb 2026

Infrastructures of reuse cluster: reflections from our first meeting

A reflection on the first meeting of the Infrastructures of Reuse cluster, exploring three historical sources that reveal how sterility, labour, and disposability became embedded in modern healthcare.

Three community activists occupy Govanhill baths, sitting on the roof of the baths with a banner that reads 'Ours' in 2001 when the pool was threatened with closure

Discarding well? justice and collective care in two grassroots waste initiatives in the UK

Academic publications

Grassroots initiatives model socially just, care-centred ways of “discarding well,” revealing both their transformative potential and the need for broader systemic change in waste relations.

A graphic with logos for After the Single Use and SCORAI.

08 Apr 2025

SCORAI Europe Conference 2025: Discarding well? How grassroots waste initiatives advance intersectional justice

Cat Acheson shares research on grassroots waste initiatives and intersectional justice at the 2025 SCORAI Europe Conference.

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.

24 Nov 2025

Unravelling the healthcare paradox: tensions in sustainable healthcare

A new reflection from CleanMed Europe 2025 explores the unresolved tensions shaping sustainable healthcare: how we balance patient outcomes, budgets, and planetary health, and who carries the burden of driving change. Read the full piece on why confronting these trade-offs is essential for reimagining healthcare’s future.

Alice Street and Millie Marriott Webb amongst an array of POCTs at the pop-up lab.

07 Nov 2025

Deconstructing Devices at POCT for Scot

Every year at POCT for Scot, global and local Point of Care Test suppliers alike assemble to discuss industry advances and promote their technologies to the delegation of researchers, healthcare and laboratory professionals.

Syringes, packaging and masks: can we do without disposable plastic equipment in hospitals?

Media items

Can hospitals reduce their dependence on disposable plastics? Bruno Strasser contributes to a discussion on the history, risks, and trade-offs behind medical throwaway culture.

12 Nov 2024

Levi Symposium: The Value(s) of Disposability in Health Care

At the Levi Symposium, scholars and practitioners explored whether healthcare must trade safety, efficacy, or efficiency for sustainability—or if durable, low-carbon alternatives can achieve all.

A waste disposal worker holds up two handfuls of plastic waste that cannot be recycled

Plastics and human health: what’s at stake in the global treaty talks in Geneva