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

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A recent newspaper feature investigated whether hospitals could realistically move away from disposable plastic equipment, given the immense quantities of waste generated by modern healthcare. Throughout the 20th century, hospitals embraced single-use plastics - syringes, masks, IV bags, packaging - replacing older systems based on sterilised glass, metal, and rubber. Today, this dependency produces vast waste streams; for example, Geneva University Hospitals generated over 5,000 tonnes of waste in 2024. Over-packaging and unnecessary disposables have become routine, even in cases where reusable or non-sterile materials would be sufficient.

As part of this investigation, Bruno Strasser described how manufacturers successfully promoted disposables through powerful hygiene messages in the 1950s and 1960s - at a time when hospital-acquired infections were rising - notwithstanding limited data proving that sterilisation failures were responsible. Despite plastics’ practical benefits - flexibility, transparency, and low production costs - the anticipated financial savings never materialised; instead, hospitals faced new costs linked to storage and incineration. Some disposables have now been abandoned; for example, synthetic bedcovers in favour of wool, but the choice of materials in healthcare is complex: there is no universal answer.

While reusable materials, revised purchasing policies, and hybrid devices could reduce plastic consumption, a complete departure from disposables is unlikely. Patient comfort, regulatory constraints, logistics, and environmental impacts all shape what forms of reuse or replacement are feasible in contemporary hospital care.

Full citation:

Coulon, Aurélie. Seringues, emballages et masques: peut-on se passer du matériel jetable en plastique à l’hôpital? Le Temps (25 August 2025). https://www.letemps.ch/sciences/sante/seringues-emballages-et-masques-peut-on-se-passer-du-materiel-jetable-en-plastique-a-l-hopital