Addressing Plastic Waste in Healthcare
A pair of gloves discarded into the trash once they’ve served their purpose. A fresh needle peeled open from its plastic packaging. A surgeon rotates through their single use tools, each one waiting patiently, behind sterile plastic, for their turn. Undeniably, these are all paramount precautions to keep you and your healthcare provider safe. However, the environmental implications they bear weigh heavily on our planet. Practicing in healthcare is a privilege. Patients put trust in us as practitioners to heal and protect. We are granted access to some of the most intimate moments of patients’ lives with a sacred responsibility to do no harm. However, this vow needs to extend beyond individuals and apply to our broader systems that shape health, including our environmental impact.
It is no surprise that healthcare settings are notorious for their contribution to single use plastics. In 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) addressed some of the critical ramifications of healthcare activities with respect to the massive waste produced. One major concern brought forth by the WHO was how these single use plastics are being discarded by healthcare (1). Divided into general/non hazardous waste (85%) and hazardous waste (15%), the WHO emphasized the importance of proper disposal of waste to reduce the release of potential pathogens and toxic pollutants into the environment. Currently, incineration of waste is widely practiced, however, inadequate practice can actually lead to the release of carcinogens into the atmosphere when burning chlorine treated materials. Therefore, the WHO also highlighted the importance of minimizing healthcare waste in general through practices like selecting products with less packaging, switching to re-usable materials when appropriate, and autoclaving/steam treating re-usable instruments.
One interesting initiative is budding out of the Canadian Coalition for Green Healthcare (2). On January 21st, 2025, the Coalition launched a national awareness campaign to specifically reduce plastic in healthcare settings in partnership with the Environment and Climate Change Canada (part of the Government of Canada). Receiving over $330,000 from their partnership, the Coalition is rolling out phases in hopes to achieve their goal of this industry adopting more sustainable practices. This project started with pilot studies at Hamilton Health Sciences, where post graduate medical students have completed 3 quality improvements studies involving single use plastic reduction thus far. After the pilot in Hamilton, the Coalition plans on expanding nationally by disseminating their resources developed in the pilot to other sites. This exciting initiative continues to evolve as we eagerly await updates.
Initiatives like the Coalition are not the only organizations pushing for this. The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is a strong advocate for a “net-zero health care system” through bigger policy recommendations that can be found on their website (3). Some upstream strategies promoted by the CMA for clinicians include expanding virtual care, supporting healthy living through addressing social determinants of health, sustainable prescribing including using reusable packaging when appropriate, and reducing waste through recycling or reprocessing.
Generally speaking, Canada is late to this call to action. On an international scale, institutions like the National Health Service (NHS) in England continue to be leading edge, being the first healthcare system to commit to net zero legislation. This commitment is more important than ever, and it is simply not enough for only the NHS to be leaders in this initiative. The earth’s resources are finite, and the healthcare system is largely to blame for abusing them. More funding, research, advocacy and policy must be implemented in Canada to combat this abuse and create systemic changes in our healthcare delivery. Furthermore, we all must do our part to ensure we are leaving behind a sustainable legacy for future practitioners. To leave you with this quote from Canada’s former Chief of Public Health Officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, addressing the 2023 International Congress on Academic Medicine, “Healthcare institutions and professionals can be leaders in taking action against climate change”. So, the question becomes: how will you contribute to this transformation in our healthcare system that is desperately needed?
Reference:
1. World Health Organization. Health-care waste [Internet]. 2024 Oct 24 [cited 2025 Oct 27]. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/health-care-waste who.int
2. Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care. Launch of new national campaign to reduce/reuse plastics in health care [Internet]. 2025 Jan 21 [cited 2025 Oct 27]. Available from: https://greenhealthcare.ca/launch-of-new-national-campaign-to-reduce-reuse-plastics-in-health-care/ greenhealthcare.ca
3. Canadian Medical Association. Why Canada needs a net-zero health system [Internet]. [cited 2025 Oct 27]. Available from: https://www.cma.ca/our-focus/net-zero-emissions-health-system/why-canada-needs-net-zero-health-system
