Use + Remix

Hospitals, masks and test kits all produce plastic waste. Only a small part of it is recycled.

Feature card of the chart, Mismanaged plastic waste : Xuanming Liang & James Goldie, 360info CC BY 4.0 Feature card of the chart, Mismanaged plastic waste : Xuanming Liang & James Goldie, 360info CC BY 4.0

Hospitals, masks and test kits all produce plastic waste. Only a small part of it is recycled.

Plastic has saved lives in the pandemic — but it’s piling up, choking our rivers and oceans.

With the widespread introduction of disposable masks and test kits, the COVID-19 pandemic has reminded us that healthcare uses plastic too. But most of it is used away from the eyes of the public, in hospitals.

As this chart shows, researchers are racing to estimate just how much of the pandemic’s plastic waste is being recycled.

Hospitals are a major source of plastic waste in the pandemic, and there are still major challenges in recycling some of the types of plastic used.

Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.

Are you a journalist? Sign up for our wire service
Privacy Overview
360

We use cookies to improve your experience with 360Info. For an optimal experience, we recommend you enable all cookies; alternatively, you can customise which cookies you’re happy for us to use. You may withdraw your consent at any time. To learn more, view our Website Terms and Conditions and Data Protection and Privacy Procedure.

Essential functionality

Modern websites require cookies to enable essential functionality. Essential cookies are required for our website to operate correctly, and are therefore always turned on.

Preferences & personalisation

We analyse your activity to constantly improve your experience. These cookies allow us to show you more relevant content.

Performance & analytics

We analyse non-identifiable information about how you use our website so we can improve it. This information is shared with third-party providers, but no personal information is included.