Environmental and Policy Insights from a Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Hospital Equipment

Across the globe, the healthcare sector has significant impacts on the environment. This study used a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental footprints of a variety of types of hospital equipment and consumables in four categories, specifically: reusable instruments, single-use instruments, medical disinfectants, and specimen collection containers. We gathered the required data for the LCA from three sources — Dhaka Medical College Hospital, published literature, and a public database — and analysed it using OpenLCA software. The LCA results show that single-use instruments have higher carbon emissions and terrestrial ecotoxicity than reusable instruments, disinfectants, and containers. Conversely, reusable instruments impact mineral resource scarcity and freshwater ecotoxicity more significantly. The single-use steel laryngoscope handle has the highest greenhouse gas emissions (1.252 kg CO2 eq), while alcohol swabs have the lowest (0.00315 kg CO2 eq). The laparotomy tray shows the highest mineral resource scarcity impact (0.0466 kg Cu eq) and freshwater ecotoxicity (measured at 0.36 kg 1,4-Dichlorobenzene (DCB) equivalents), while alcohol swabs and urine specimen jars have the lowest mineral resource scarcity and freshwater ecotoxicity impacts, respectively. These findings can inform strategies to reduce environmental impacts in healthcare. Based on the findings, the study also proposes actionable policy recommendations to promote sustainable procurement, encourage efficient equipment use, and support environmental accountability in hospital practices.