Reducing plastic use in health care

July 17, 2025

Providence Environmental Stewardship

[7 MIN READ]

Hospitals in the U.S. generate about 14,000 tons of waste daily. Up to 25% of that waste is plastics.
Plastic Free July is a global movement that inspires people to find ways to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics.
Learn how Providence has been an industry leader in finding creative ways to avoid, reduce, repurpose and recycle plastic within our hospitals.

Reducing plastic use in health care

Hospitals in the U.S. produce about 14,000 tons of waste daily and 20 to 25% of that waste is plastics, according to the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council. The vast majority of that is single-use plastics.

“We live in a plastic society. While plastics can sometimes be necessary to deliver safe, high-quality care, it’s incumbent upon healthcare to look for opportunities where we can safely reduce the use of single-use plastics,” says Kristy Pelletier, RN, BSN, CVRN, Sustainability Clinical Program Coordinator at Providence.

In celebration of Plastic Free July, a global movement that works to reduce reliance on single-use plastics, Pelletier highlights some of the work Providence has done in this area.

The health impacts of plastics

Recent research highlights that microplastics—tiny fragments found in everything from soil to food—are increasingly present in human brain tissue and organs. These plastics contain endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which have been linked to hormone disruption and serious health issues such as reproductive disorders and certain cancers.

How we’re reducing plastic use at Providence

Some plastic items are essential for providing high-quality care in a hospital setting, but plastics can also negatively affect human health and the environment.

To address this, Providence is transitioning from single-use items to more durable and often safer alternatives, such as washable gowns. The organization is also promoting best practices, such as taking only essential medical supplies into patient and operating rooms, reducing unnecessary plastic packaging in our food service and eliminating disposable plastics from food trays, both for patients and in the cafeterias.

Providence also reduces plastic use and waste by purchasing single-use items that can be reprocessed, collecting items for reprocessing instead of sending them to the landfill, and phasing out plastics containing chemicals considered harmful to humans and the environment.

Move toward more durable, multi-use items

Providence is in the process of evaluating our practices around single-use items, and collaborating with clinicians, infection prevention and other groups to identify items that have unnecessarily substituted with single-use items. This includes washable dishware, isolation gowns, and more.

“We have gotten to a place in healthcare where we use mostly single-use plastic gowns in isolation rooms,” Pelletier says. “But we are now reviewing current research on the safety and impact of disposable vs. washable gowns and encouraging a shift back toward washable isolation gowns instead.”

A recent Providence lifecycle analysis of disposable gowns compared to washable gowns found that washable gowns had a significantly lower impact on carbon and pollution emissions and saved money in the long run.

Taking fewer items into our operating rooms

In health care, surgeons use preference cards listing their required supplies for each procedure. Over time, these cards accumulate unused or outdated items, leading to unnecessary waste as extra supplies are brought into operating rooms and discarded.

Providence reduces this unnecessary waste by creating OneView, a system that assists surgeons and surgical staff to update surgeon preference cards, to ensure only necessary items are brought into operating rooms. This saves money, cuts plastic use, and ensures surgeons have the supplies they need.

Reducing packaging in Food and Nutrition Services

The Environmental Stewardship team collaborated closely with Morrison Healthcare, Providence’s main food and nutrition services provider, to establish guidelines aimed at minimizing unnecessary packaging throughout kitchens, preparation areas, cafés, and patient meal services.

For example, when meals on patient or cafeteria trays require condiments, the current recommendation is to employ reusable containers made of plastic or ceramic in lieu of single-use plastic options.

“In addition, efforts are underway in partnership with relevant ministries to decrease reliance on disposable dishware— including disposable plates, plastic cutlery and eliminating the use of Styrofoam,” says Pelletier.

For example, Providence hospitals in Texas and New Mexico used to utilize only disposable dishware, predominantly Styrofoam, which poses considerable environmental challenges due to its toxicity, impact, recycling difficulty, and bulk in landfills. A recent initiative at these hospitals focused on eliminating Styrofoam in favor of washable items, paper products, and recyclable No. 1 and No. 2 plastics.

Investing in a circular economy

Providence works with a vendor who can clean, test, and repackage medical devices for safe reuse that would otherwise be disposable. Medical device reprocessing helps healthcare organizations lower costs and reduce waste through validated cleaning, sterilization, refurbishing, and functionality testing.

Items that can be reprocessed include pulse oximeters, air transfer mattresses, repositioning sheets, compression sleeves, tourniquets, and more.

“All our hospitals collect eligible medical devices for our vendor to clean, test, and resell. If a renewed item is available, we purchase it first—saving resources and money.” Pelletier says.

Phasing out harmful plastics

Eliminating plastics that contain chemicals identified as harmful to human health and the environment is a key priority.

One such chemical, diethylhexylphthalate (DEHP)—commonly used in medical plastics such as IV tubing and bags to enhance flexibility—has been recognized as a potential carcinogen and as a disruptor of reproductive and endocrine systems. "This could result in unnecessary exposure to chemicals for patients receiving care as well as clinical staff," explains Pelletier.

Providence has reduced the use of products containing DEHP by 99% since the initiative began.

Empowering caregivers

Providence supports caregivers in reducing plastic waste through policies and education.

The Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Policy guides staff to choose environmentally friendly products, focusing on durable, recyclable items with minimal hazardous chemicals, to reduce single-use plastics.

Ongoing education—led by local environmental stewardship champions like RN Ildi White—includes waste reduction workshops and guidance on recycling and supply use. According to Pelletier, Ildi's efforts have encouraged colleagues to cut plastic consumption and unnecessary waste in clinical settings.

National and collaborative efforts

Providence also collaborates on the national level to reduce plastic use in health care systems nationwide.

One such example is CHARME (Collaborative for Healthcare Action to Reduce MedTech Emissions). CHARME is a collaborative leadership council on sustainable purchasing. Providence has been working with CHARME leading a washable gown workstream.

Providence also partners with key national organizations as experts in procurement policies that help reduce plastic use within health systems including:

National Academy of Medicine
Health Care Without Harm’s Health Care Climate Council Sustainable Procurement sub-council
Practice Greenhealth’s Climate Excellence Standard for Health Sector Suppliers

You, too, can reduce your single-use plastic consumption

We encourage everyone in our community to participate in Plastic Free July by exploring ways to reduce their use of plastics.

Use reusable grocery bags while shopping. Seek out products that aren’t encased in unnecessary plastic. Skip the plastic utensils and use what’s in your kitchen drawer at your next picnic.

"Since plastics do not biodegrade, we must all focus on reducing our plastic use wherever we can to avoid creating more waste that will persist in the environment long-term," says Pelletier.

Together, we can all make a difference.

Contributing caregiver

Kristy Pelletier, RN, BSN, CVRN, is a Sustainability Clinical Program Coordinator at Providence.

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