This blog shares insights from CRCF’s research at Fann Hospital in Senegal, following the routes that healthcare waste takes after use and examining the everyday systems that shape its management. Looking beyond the point of disposal, the piece reflects on how single-use medical materials move through hospital infrastructures, and what these movements reveal about care, responsibility and environmental impact.

Dr. Sett is the first and only biomedical waste treatment facility in Senegal. Located in Sinda, 68 km from Dakar in the Thiès region, it enables public and private medical facilities to manage all their biomedical waste in a responsible and sustainable manner. 

How can contemporary collecting shape our research on single-use plastics while guiding ethical curation, museum collaboration, and future preservation?

At our Edinburgh workshop, a visit to Surgeons’ Hall Museums revealed how medical materials evolved, highlighting overlooked histories of disposability and raising urgent questions about plastics in healthcare’s future.