Medical textiles, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like gowns, aprons, and face masks, along with sterilization materials such as "blue wrap," significantly contribute to plastic waste in healthcare. These items can constitute up to 10% of a hospital's plastic waste and are mostly composed of non-woven polypropylene, a material challenging to recycle. By adopting reusable alternatives for medical textiles, hospitals worldwide can achieve substantial environmental benefits. Transitioning to reusable gowns, aprons, and drapes reduces single-use plastic production and minimizes waste, and environmental pollution from production, use, and disposal.
Health Care Without Harm partnered with the Norwegian Retailers' Environment Fund (NREF) in a two-year project (2024 - 2026) focused on sustainable textile production and consumption in Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. This initiative aims to combat the plastic pandemic and promote sustainable production practices, transforming the sector’s dependency and overreliance on plastic and toxic materials.
We will guide and support health care providers across different geographies in adopting the waste hierarchy (rethink/redesign, reduce, reuse, recycle) and specifically target medical textiles. These rank among the top six plastic items used in health care and can account for up to 10% of total hospital plastic waste. 1
Stages of the project
Raise awareness and educate health care staff, including clinical and health management personnel, about the health and environmental impacts of health care plastics. This stage will focus on available solutions and strategies for reducing and substituting single-use plastics (SUPs). Health care professionals, especially nurses, have played a crucial role as agents of change in addressing SUPs in the sector.
The teams will work with four health care providers in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America to pilot solutions aimed at reducing single-use plastics in health care. Taking a global approach will facilitate mutual learning, cross-pollination of ideas, and a deeper understanding of the issue within different health systems.
Advocate for policies at the health system and hospital levels that incentivize plastic reduction and mandate the use of reusable medical textiles. This advocacy stage is critical for creating a supportive environment for sustainable practices in healthcare.
Share training resources and increase momentum for plastic-free healthcare globally and promote the widespread adoption of reusable medical textiles. Scaling up these efforts will significantly reduce the environmental impact of healthcare operations worldwide.
1 Based on waste audit and procurement data and desk reviews conducted during the Towards plastic-free healthcare project. HCWH Europe (2021) ‘Measuring and reducing plastics in European healthcare’
*This project is funded by the NREF.