A reusable stitch in time saves nine? U.K. hospital sterilizing suture kits to reduce waste

It's almost second nature for doctors to toss aside a suture kit once they've patched up a patient. But as those instruments join a pile of medical waste in an industry already heavy with single-use items, one U.K. centre is pivoting to reusing them.

The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton is one of the first emergency departments in the U.K. to pilot using reusable suture instruments to better the service's carbon footprint.

"We cannot talk about planetary health without embedding certain principles into everything that we do — and health care is no exception," said Dr. Mahmood Bhutta, the clinical green lead at University Hospitals Sussex who instigated the project.

The pilot program, which started in January, removes from rotation single-use suture kits designed for stitching wounds. These kits — comprised of scissors, needle holds and forceps — are usually put into a sharps bin immediately after use and incinerated.

The instruments in the reusable kits are instead now sterilized on site and stored in specialized boxes to protect their 15-year lifespan.

The hospital estimates that switching to reusable suture instruments will save at least 2,240 kits from incineration every year and eliminate one kilogram of carbon per use.

"We absolutely have to reuse what we can — it's part of future health care," said Bhutta.

The health-care industry has been long reliant on plastic and single-use materials, like masks, gloves, gowns, tubing, medication packaging and more. But with growing concerns over the environmental impact and climbing health-care costs, a shift to reusable instruments can address some of these pressing challenges. 

According to a 2019 report by Health Care Without Harm, the sector is responsible for an estimated 4.4 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with an overall climate footprint equivalent to the annual GHGs of 514 coal-fired power plants.

If the health sector were a country, the report said, it would be the fifth-largest emitter on the planet.

For the U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS), its providers produce approximately 156,000 tonnes of clinical waste every year that is either sent for incineration or alternative treatment — the equivalent to more than 400 jumbo jets loaded with waste.

In 2020, the NHS laid out a roadmap to become the first net-zero health service in the world by 2045.

Reusing equipment that is safe to do so, such as suture kits or some personal protective equipment (PPE), can significantly lessen the sector's overall impact on climate change, says Bhutta.

On average, switching from single-use to reusable health-care products can reduce the global warming potential by between 38 to 50 per cent, according to a 2023 study published in the European Journal of Public Health.