Waste plastics in clinical environments : a multi-disciplinary challenge

Single Use Plastics are an essential and invaluable component of modern, safe and effective medical and dental care. They are used in the manufacturing of complex compound products, devices and their associated packaging. The volumes used are in the thousands of tones/year and to date, the vast majority of this ends its single-use life as waste in landfill sites or incineration, thus following a very wasteful linear economy. This multi-disciplinary project has established baseline data of stakeholder behaviour, usage and waste management through innovative recycling technologies. We have confirmed that reducing and recycling on an impactful scale can only be achieved through a highly collaborative and multidisciplinary approach to understand, engage and influence behaviour changes at each stakeholder point of the supply chain, thus reverting to a more environmentally sustainable circular economy.