Reducing single-use plastics in Scottish healthcare

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After the Single Use researcher Dani Farrow presented at a national NHS Scotland Sustainable Delivery Group meeting, a quarterly forum bringing together representatives from NHS Scotland health boards to discuss progress on sustainability initiatives.

Dani’s presentation, ‘Reducing Single-Use Plastics in Scottish Healthcare’, introduced research from After the Single Use into the role of disposable medical technologies within healthcare systems. The presentation explored how single-use plastics have become embedded in clinical practice, procurement, waste management, and ideas of safety, sterility and efficiency.

The meeting provided an opportunity to share project research with healthcare stakeholders working directly on sustainability across NHS Scotland. Dani discussed the challenges involved in reducing single-use plastics in healthcare.

The presentation connected After the Single Use research with wider NHS Scotland priorities around sustainable care, waste reduction, and lower-carbon healthcare delivery. It also highlighted the importance of social science research in understanding how change happens within healthcare systems, where material decisions are shaped not only by environmental concerns, but also by clinical routines, procurement structures, professional expectations and patient safety requirements.

By contributing to the Sustainable Delivery Group meeting, the project was able to bring research on medical plastics into conversation with national healthcare sustainability work in Scotland, supporting ongoing discussions about how disposable medical technologies might be reduced, reused, replaced or rethought.