About 25% of waste generated by a hospital is plastic. Hospitals routinely use single-use plastics because they’re cheap, durable, and sterile. But they contribute to microplastic pollution in oceans; require tremendous amounts of fossil fuels to manufacture, package, and ship; aren’t typically recycled; and are potentially toxic to patients and staff.

• Substitute safe, sterile, reusable equipment for at least some of that disposable plastic. For example, choose rigid sterilization containers instead of polypropylene “blue wrap.”
• Recycle—better yet, reuse—anything that hasn’t had contact with patients, such as packaging and storage containers.
• As a patient, when you end a hospital stay, ask what will be thrown away. Scoop up the basins, plastic water pitchers, and anything else you can find a use for that would otherwise be discarded.