Plastics and labor: The case of disposable medical plastics

Plastics are ubiquitous in the contemporary practice of medicine, where they are tied to notions of hygiene and quality of care. However, when plastics first infiltrated global medical practice, they did so because of considerations related to patient comfort and durability. It was only after developments in the sterilization of plastics and the aggressive marketing of single-use plastics that medical plastics came to be emblematic of hygiene as they are today. In this article, drawing from historical data and fieldwork in India, I argue that dependence upon disposable medical plastics is not just about infection control but also about enabling reductions in labor at the site of use. This labor is displaced into the future-as new plastic production-and downstream, onto waste management. Medical plastics thus function as a materiality of displaced labor in clinical settings. Recognizing this displacement effect is crucial to plastic control interventions within sustainable healthcare.