A reusables first approach prioritizes the use of reusable products and devices over single-use disposables wherever clinically safe and operationally feasible. It supports a shift toward more sustainable healthcare procurement by reducing waste, lowering environmental impact, and strengthening resource efficiency across care settings. This approach applies across multiple domains, including medical textiles, clinical supplies and devices, food service wares, and furniture, where reusable alternatives can often provide equivalent or improved performance when appropriately implemented.
Evidence from life cycle assessments and sustainability evaluations shows that reusable systems can significantly reduce environmental impacts over time compared with single-use products. However, adoption must always consider patient safety, clinical appropriateness, and local infrastructure. Decisions should be informed by due diligence, including consultation with quality assurance teams and review of available evidence on product performance and environmental impact.
Practical tools and strategies support implementation by helping organizations identify reusable opportunities, assess feasibility, and guide safe adoption. These include approaches for trialling reusable products, building internal capacity for reuse systems, strengthening reprocessing and redistribution systems, and integrating sustainability criteria into procurement decisions.
Effective implementation requires a structured strategy: strengthening reuse systems (such as reprocessing and redistribution), learning through pilots and trials, and driving long-term change by embedding reuse into procurement policies and leveraging purchasing power to influence markets. When applied systematically, a reusables first approach enables healthcare organizations to reduce environmental harm while maintaining high-quality, safe patient care.
Playbook: A Reusables First Approach to Healthcare Procurement
MacNeil J, Miller FA, Dawson M, Chan C, Chin, E, Maguire B. A Reusables First Approach to Healthcare. Version 1.0. [Internet]. CASCADES; 2025 [cited DATE]. Available from: https://cascadescanada.ca/.
This video presented sustainable perioperative care practices through the use of reusable anesthesia components and outlined the reprocessing pathway at North York General Hospital. It highlighted ways to improve the sustainability of perioperative care and provided an overview of additional learning resources, including an introduction to sustainable health systems e-learning module and an overview of perioperative sustainability action areas from CASCADES.
This webinar explains the “reusables first” approach to sustainable procurement, which prioritizes reusable products and devices over single-use disposables whenever clinically safe to do so. It highlights how healthcare procurement can help reduce the sector’s environmental impact by decarbonizing supply chains and adopting more sustainable practices to support planetary health and climate mitigation. The session features healthcare professionals from British Columbia and Ontario who share their experience implementing reusable-first strategies in clinical settings and discuss practical opportunities for broader adoption across the health system.
This webinar explores the growing movement in Quebec to adopt reusable products and devices as a strategy for advancing sustainability in health care. It explains how shifting from single-use disposable products to reusable alternatives can reduce resource extraction, waste, and pollution while improving supply chain resilience and potentially lowering long-term costs. The discussion features Quebec-based researchers and healthcare professionals sharing insights on the environmental and financial differences between reusable and single-use products, as well as barriers, facilitators, and real-world experiences implementing this transition in health care facilities.
This webinar focuses on infection prevention and control (IPAC) strategies related to reusable medical devices and equipment as part of the “reusable first” webinar series. Experts discuss how proper cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization are essential to maintaining patient safety while reducing environmental waste. The session emphasizes the importance of clear protocols, staff training, and collaboration between infection control and sustainability teams to support safe reuse practices in health care settings.
This webinar, the fourth presentation in the “Reusables First” series, explores lessons learned from unsuccessful attempts to implement reusable products in healthcare settings. It highlights challenges such as increased workload, logistical complexity, and difficulty meeting staff needs. Speakers present case studies including reusable metal spoons, zero-waste yogurt containers, and reusable surgical textiles. Across organizations, common barriers included delays, loss of momentum, inconsistent stakeholder buy-in, and the lack of early cost analysis. The session emphasizes that sharing failures is important for helping other sustainability leaders avoid similar pitfalls and improve future implementation of reusable healthcare practices.
