Circular medical textiles – from single use to multiple use

Textiles used in operating rooms typically end up in landfills or incinerators after a single use, contributing significantly to the approx. 5.8 mln tons of textile waste generated in Europe each year (EU Strategy, p.1). That is no longer sustainable.

According to the EU Directive 2018/851 (effective 2025) waste management needs to change into sustainable material management. And the EU Strategy on Sustainable and Circular Textiles aims for long-lived and recyclable textile products on the EU market by 2030, reducing incineration and landfill (p.2-3).

In this project, regional authorities with different roles and responsibilities on promoting circular medical textiles in operating rooms will work together on a range of policy instruments (e.g.: subsidy programme(s), procurement, CE policy, permit rules, circular conditions financing hospitals,…,) to address actors on both the supply and the demand side of medical textiles to maximise their impact on facilitating circularity.