Three care organisations in Amsterdam have started a trial using reusable, recycled cotton hospital gowns instead of single-use plastic ones in an effort to boost the sustainability drive in the healthcare sector.

The OLVG hospital, and Reade rehabilitation centre have been using the cotton PPE gowns since February, and are being followed by Cordaan care homes this month. The move is part of a city initiative to prevent up to five million plastic gowns from ending up on “a mountain of waste”.

The care sector as a whole discards some 15 million plastic hospital gowns a year and is already responsible for 7% of greenhouse gas emissions and 13% of raw material use.

The cotton gowns, that can be washed at least 80 times, are really a step back in time, Anita de Wit, of textile sustainability initiative Reblend, which helped design the gown, told the Parool.

“Cotton gowns were used until the 1960s when the lighter polyester gowns came in. They were then considered a big improvement,” she said.

The trial at the OLVG hospital has shown the new cotton gowns offer as good a protection against infection as plastic ones and are deemed by staff to be very comfortable to wear,

The sudden shortage of PPE during the pandemic made the care institutions more alert to the waste they were generating, De Wit said. “The need to approach the way they used materials was felt across the board,” she said.

The costs around the reusable and recyclable gowns are very different to that of a plastic coat. The cotton gown, for instance cost some €42, excluding washing, compared to 70 cents for a plastic gown, although prices are expected to go down once they are more widely used.