Our circular economy expert, Pallavi Madakasira, reflects on modern healthcare’s growing environmental footprint and explores which solutions can be applied to support this life-saving sector’s transition towards a more sustainable future.
Modern healthcare saves lives – but at a hidden cost. Healthcare systems globally face a growing challenge: to deliver superior patient care while confronting their own environmental footprint. The healthcare sector has a significant carbon footprint, accounting for about 4% to 5% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – much of this is locked in at the point of product design and procurement.
Reducing single-use plastics in healthcare
One of the most carbon-intensive and wasteful aspects of modern healthcare is its reliance on single-use plastics. Plastics are woven into nearly every aspect of modern healthcare. From the insulated packaging that protects and transports vaccines and temperature-sensitive medicines to single-use instruments, gloves & gowns, to trays and food packaging in hospital cafeterias, these materials have become essential for safety and convenience – but also drive significant carbon emissions and waste across the system.
Our research shows that healthcare systems across Europe and North America generated approximately 2.1 million tonnes of single-use plastic waste in 2023, spanning seven high-volume product categories across the value chain: fluid bags and tubing, gloves, device packaging, rigid devices, personal protective equipment (PPE), wipes, and pharmaceutical packaging – resulting in roughly 9.3 million tonnes of CO₂e emissions. Without meaningful intervention, annual plastic waste will exceed 2.9 million tonnes by 2040. Over this period, waste volumes will grow by about 47% in Europe and 28% in North America.
Procurement as the critical lever for building a sustainable healthcare system
The implication is clear: healthcare’s plastic and carbon footprint is primarily determined by procurement decisions – product design, material selection, and purchasing specifications – rather than at the point of disposal.
Reducing single-use plastics and the carbon footprint of products (and the industry’s overall footprint) requires systemic action across the healthcare value chain. These challenges are deeply interconnected: material use, carbon emissions, procurement practices, and clinical workflows reinforce one another. But among these, procurement stands out as the most powerful lever to drive change at scale.
Five transformative levers – reuse, material substitution, improved recycling, procuring low-GHG plastics, and refusing unnecessary products – can collectively reduce annual plastic waste by approximately 0.8 to 1.6 million tonnes and cut GHG emissions by an estimated 2.5 to 7 million tonnes of CO₂e each year. Crucially, the impact comes from upstream interventions: reducing demand, shifting specifications, and embedding circularity into purchasing decisions. This is not theoretical. These shifts are already underway.
What’s already working: sustainability innovations in healthcare systems
Traditionally, vaccines, biologics, and other temperature-sensitive products rely on single-use plastic-based ice packs and pallet wraps – creating significant waste and embedded carbon. In response, some organizations are deploying reusable thermal shippers (such as those from Peli BioThermal), pallet wraps, and compostable alternatives (such as those offered by TemperPack) that maintain temperature integrity while allowing multiple uses. These alternate product solutions demonstrate that lower-impact alternatives can meet performance requirements when procurement creates the space for them.
Regulatory and market drivers are converging to push healthcare systems and suppliers toward lower-carbon, lower-waste solutions primarily through evolving procurement standards. The UK’s National Health Service (NHS), one of the world’s largest healthcare purchasers, will introduce requirements for product-level carbon footprinting from 2028, as part of its Net Zero Supplier Roadmap. Companies such as Merck and Novo Nordisk are embedding Scope 3 expectations into supplier engagements. Merck expects its suppliers to report detailed emissions data and set reduction targets aligned with science-based criteria. Life sciences companies such as Novo Nordisk are driving supplier programmes focused on Scope 3 engagement, reflecting that the majority of their emissions are associated with upstream partners and materials. AstraZeneca’s Supplier Sustainability Guide sets clear expectations for suppliers to measure and reduce environmental impacts across their value chain, including GHG emissions, materials use, and waste generation. It explicitly positions sustainability performance as a condition of doing business and reinforces the role of procurement in driving upstream decarbonization and material reduction across the healthcare supply chain.
These developments reinforce a critical shift; product carbon footprint capabilities and circular design are becoming core requirements for market access – not optional differentiators.
From clinicians to suppliers: the shared commitment needed for sustainable healthcare
However, setting supplier standards don’t automatically translate into system-wide change. For suppliers operating within large healthcare procurement systems and group purchasing organisations, demand for consumables remains structurally stable. The flow of single-use products continues, even as expectations around emissions, waste, and circularity evolve.
This persistence is not accidental; it is reinforced by how procurement systems are structured. Procurement systems themselves are often fragmented, with uneven access to data, inconsistent visibility across purchasing functions, and limited standardisation in decision-making. In practice, this means different parts of the same organization may not be operating with the same information or sustainability criteria when making purchasing decisions. As a result, procurement intent and procurement frameworks enable change but do not guarantee it – especially when clinical practices, risk perceptions, and operational norms favour incumbent single-use solutions. This creates a critical inflection point.
For suppliers, competing in this environment requires more than incremental product innovation. It demands a rethink of the underlying business model. Organizations must evaluate where circularity can be introduced across both product design and service delivery – from transitioning away from linear single-use models to exploring reuse systems, take-back schemes, and service-based offerings. As regulatory pressure and customer expectations increase, these capabilities will shift from a competitive advantage to a baseline expectation.
Even where procurement frameworks allow for more sustainable alternatives, adoption often hinges on behavior change among clinicians and operational staff. Reuse systems require new workflows, training, and accountability. Without internal champions to drive adoption and normalize these practices, even well-designed solutions struggle to scale.