I did the ambulance thing for a bit. CPR calls, the back of the ambulance, despite being covered in fluids, looked like a recycling center. And none of it gets recycled, obviously, all just gets red bagged or containered. Everything is individually wrapped, and for obvious reasons, but I’d have days where I could match my family’s plastic use for the week or more in 12 hours.
Though in that particular scenario, while it feels wasteful, for an average person is exceedingly rare. The only paramedic supply I’ve had used on me in my lifetime was when my car got rear ended badly and they gave me a blanket because I just conversationally mentioned it was kind of cold while they were checking in with me. Going for a dental cleaning or a physical there’ll be some single use plastics to be sure, but again, only like 3 times a year usually.
Oh man that’s a drop in the bucket compared to medical/industrial/commercial plastic waste lol.
I did the ambulance thing for a bit. CPR calls, the back of the ambulance, despite being covered in fluids, looked like a recycling center. And none of it gets recycled, obviously, all just gets red bagged or containered. Everything is individually wrapped, and for obvious reasons, but I’d have days where I could match my family’s plastic use for the week or more in 12 hours.
One day doing, even just residential construction produces more plastic waste than an entire family of 4 for a month I would reckon.
Though in that particular scenario, while it feels wasteful, for an average person is exceedingly rare. The only paramedic supply I’ve had used on me in my lifetime was when my car got rear ended badly and they gave me a blanket because I just conversationally mentioned it was kind of cold while they were checking in with me. Going for a dental cleaning or a physical there’ll be some single use plastics to be sure, but again, only like 3 times a year usually.
Are you advocating reusing syringes?
No, I’m saying as a species, we’re fucked.
That much, everyone can agree on.