“in a world of throwaways, making a dent in medical waste” by ingfei chen, ny times july 5, 2010 it is frequently cheaper and more convenient to use disposable medical devices rather than disinfecting and reusing them. hospital medical sterilizing departments do not want additional work; on occasion i have been told not to use and then send them items that are designed to be disinfected and reused when clinical staff have access to the disposable equivalents. we live in a throwaway and one use society that would rather tolerate waste if convenience and cost dictated it. why do perfectly sealed non-biodegradable medical devices such as syringes and hypodermic needles have expiry dates when they cannot break down for thousands of years when discarded? we adhere to these dates and consider such expired products good enough to be shipped to and (gratefully) used elsewhere without impunity. so not reusing is compounded by the waste imposed by arbitrary employment of expiry dates which harms the environment and benefits no patient.