I had a post-surgical “thing” (details spared for the squeamish) early in the year that took a daily use of supplies for a few months. Decades of recycling, bicycle commuting, and EV ownership seemed wiped away by the shear amount of waste generated each and every day. And I had time to come up with alternatives as I laid there with my restricted activity, and came up with no alternatives. I mean, can you even get corn starch alternatives sterile without watching them melt? :-)
So, yeah, I’m confident medical stuff will be on the exception list. At the same time, I know of folks that need continuing supplies for their care, such as wound care, but know none personally. Even my thing eventually ended.
But most people actively receive health care infrequently, compared to a daily or weekly cadence for consuming groceries or coffee or whatever. As a fraction of the plastic waste that a typical person generates, how much is medical?
One does have to watch that the solution isn't worse. Plastic packaging is cheap because it takes very little people, resources, and energy to make.
A lot of the issue is that we haven't been really using market approaches to deal with it. If the creators where financially a physically responsible for the proper recycling, they would be motivated to use less and make it cheaper to reuse. The current recycling makes the problem a municipal one, in many places, who are ill equipped to deal with it... then we end up shipping it elsewhere.
So, yeah, I’m confident medical stuff will be on the exception list. At the same time, I know of folks that need continuing supplies for their care, such as wound care, but know none personally. Even my thing eventually ended.