Single-use Plastic and COVID-19 in the NHS: Barriers and Opportunities

Abstract

Background: Single-use personal protective equipment (PPE) has been essential to protect healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, intensified use of PPE could counteract the previous efforts made by the UK NHS Trusts to reduce their plastic footprint. Design and methods: In this study, we conducted an in-depth case study in the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust to investigate plastic-related issues in a typical NHS Trust before, during and after the pandemic. We first collected hospital routine data on both procurement and usage of single-use PPE (including face masks, aprons, and gowns) for the time period between April 2019 and August 2020. We then interviewed 12 hospital staff across a wide remit, from senior managers to consultants, nurses and catering staff, to gather qualitative evidence on the overall impact of COVID-19 on the Trust regarding plastic use.Results: We found that although COVID-19 had increased the procurement and the use of single-use plastic substantially during the pandemic, it did not appear to have changed the focus of the hospital on implementing measures to reduce single-use plastic in the long term. We then discussed the barriers and opportunities to tackle plastic issues within the NHS in the post-COVID world, for example, a circular healthcare model.Conclusion: investment is needed in technologies and processes that can recycle and reuse a wider range of single-use plastics, and innovate sustainable alternatives to replace single-use consumables used in the NHS to construct a fully operational closed material loop healthcare system.

Microplastic Effects on Thrombin–Fibrinogen Clotting Dynamics Measured via Turbidity and Thromboelastography

“…Due to the ubiquitous nature of plastic use in modern society and the exceptionally low, 8.6%, rate of recycling, it is estimated that there will be over 12,000 million metric tons of plastic waste in landfills and the environment by 2025 [ 1 , 2 ]. This trend has only been exacerbated by the increased utilization of single-use plastics that was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic in both consumer and medical markets [ 3 , 4 , 5 ]. A microplastic is generally considered to be any plastic whose diameter is less than 1 mm.…”

How much do we throw away in the intensive care unit? An observational point prevalence study of Australian and New Zealand ICUs

“…reported on the rise in use of single use plastics during COVID-19, and their findings are relevant in our patient group. 10 It is clear that some waste produced is considered hazardous (potentially infectious), but estimates suggest that this only accounts for about 15% of waste in hospitals, and the nonhazardous waste is where many of the reductions could occur. 19 COVID-19 also illustrated that supply chain disruptions can cause problems when hospitals rely on single use disposable items in lieu of reusable equipment such as gowns.…”

“… 9 Furthermore, the COVID pandemic has brought the amount of waste generated in healthcare settings to the fore, as exemplified by the millions of single use gowns, gloves and face masks used worldwide to protect healthcare workers and patients. 10 , 11 …”

A creeping crisis when an urgent crisis arises: The reprioritization of plastic pollution issues during COVID‐19

“…During the pandemic, these entrepreneurs who advocated the health risks were able to again raise health as a concern and governments have in some cases incentivized and in others made mandatory the use of PPE (Silva et al, 2020(Silva et al, , 2021). However, it has been noted that the increased use of PPE could have the unintended consequence of counteracting the UK's National Health Service goal of reducing their plastic footprint (Hu et al, 2022).…”