Prof. Moritz Göldner was a guest on episode 49 of “UROlogisch!”, the podcast of the German Society of Urology (DGU). The episode, titled “Urological Sustainability (II): Single-use or reusable?”, was released on 8 August 2026. He was joined by host Prof. Christian Wülfing, press spokesperson of the DGU, Aline Mittag, Senior Manager Sustainability at Asklepios, and urologist Prof. Hagen Loertzer.
At its core was a question many hospitals are grappling with: are reusable products the more sustainable choice in the operating room? Moritz Göldner made clear that in terms of carbon footprint, reusable products perform better in most, but not all, cases. In practice, however, the answer is rarely clear-cut. Aline Mittag pointed to the time, energy and chemicals required for reprocessing. Hagen Loertzer described the additional transport that arises when instruments have to leave the hospital for sterilization. A sound decision therefore requires looking at a product’s entire life cycle, and once costs come into play, things get even more complex.
This intersection of sustainability and cost-efficiency is exactly where our research in the Working Group for Data-Driven Innovation comes in. Together with Sana Einkauf & Logistik and Medline, Moritz Göldner and Amanda Baum analyzed data from around 213,000 surgeries in 25 hospitals. The single-use surgical textiles alone accounted for almost 2,000 tonnes of CO₂ equivalents. Standardized use could save more than 20 percent of this, particularly in hospitals specializing in orthopedics and cardiology, without any upfront investment. The results have been published open access in Die Urologie.
