Tools for Change: Quantifying and Understanding Diagnostic Plastic Waste
Image courtesy of ASLM
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In March 2026, Alice Street and Maiwenn Kersaudy Kerhoas presented ‘Tools for Change: Quantifying and Understanding Diagnostic Plastic Waste’ as part of an African Society for Laboratory Medicine LabCoP Waste Management Sub-Community of Practice ECHO Session.
The session explored the materials used in diagnostic testing, including the quantities of plastic waste generated by some lateral flow assays. It introduced current approaches and tools for quantifying diagnostic plastic waste, and considered how this data can support laboratories to better understand, manage and reduce the environmental impact of their work.
As part of After the Single Use, the session connected practical questions of waste measurement to wider systems of policy, regulation, laboratory practice and manufacturing. By making diagnostic waste more visible, it opened up discussion around how evidence can inform changes in design, procurement, segregation, reuse and disposal.
