The Born Green Generation initiative encourages hospitals and healthcare professionals to participate in a Europe-wide pledge to reduce plastics and toxic chemicals in maternity and paediatric care settings. This pledge incites healthcare stakeholders to commit to fostering sustainable practices, moving away from harmful materials, and advocating for a safer and healthier future for infants.
Hospital trusts are already piloting new war models to demonstrate practical ways to minimise plastic use and exposure to harmful chemicals. Meanwhile, universities are designing modules that equip future healthcare providers with the skills to embrace sustainable and circular healthcare practices. These collaborative efforts demonstrate the potential for systematic change in the healthcare sector.
As the world faces an unprecedented environmental crisis, Born Green Generation aligns with global efforts like the recent fifth Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on the Global Plastics Treaty. While the chair’s draft reflected encouraging steps, it remains unofficial and unfinalised. With no official treaty, babies continue being exposed to harmful plastics and toxic chemicals. During the first 1000 days — from conception to age two — infants are especially vulnerable to this, yet these exposures are largely avoidable.
By 2030, the project envisions the first generation of babies born in healthcare settings from unnecessary plastics and toxic chemicals in over a century.
James Dixon CEnv FIEMA FRSA, associate director — Sustainability, Newcastle Hospitals and Vice Chair, Health Care Without Harm Europe, said: “I’m proud that Newcastle Hospitals is working with progressive European partner hospitals at the forefront of this ambitious movement. So far, we have made progress in switching from single use plastic to reusable alternatives and educating staff and patients on how to avoid exposure to plastics and harmful chemicals. It’s inspiring to see how some of these early interventions can be both simple and impactful — not only in reducing plastics and chemicals in our maternity department but also in minimising the waste we generate.
“We’re also seeing interest from our new and expectant parents, as well as healthcare professionals, which signals a growing desire to protect babies from harmful substances in these critical early days of their development.
“At this stage we’re just a few hospitals. Real change needs momentum across our profession and the wider healthcare sector. I encourage my healthcare colleagues across Europe to protect vulnerable babies in their care by calling for an urgent and significant reduction in harmful plastics and chemicals in hospitals.”
Dominique Licaud, Coordonnatrice en Maïeutique, Centre Hospitalier d’Angoulême, said: “At the Centre Hospitalier d’Angoulême, we believe that all babies should be born in healthcare environments as free as possible from these toxic substances. The initial results in our departments are very promising, and we are proud to lead by example and to help make this movement a model for other Maternity/Neonatology and Paediatrics departments across Europe and, more broadly, for the entire healthcare sector.
“So far, Centre Hospitalier d’Angoulême has reduced the exposure of newborns, children, and pregnant women to pollutants, and it is inspiring to see how some of these changes are both simple and effective—not only by reducing plastics and chemicals, including endocrine disruptors, in our department but also by decreasing the waste we produce.
“However, we are just a few hospitals. Real change requires momentum within the profession as a whole. I encourage my colleagues in perinatal care across Europe to take concrete actions to protect vulnerable babies."
Mark Wilson, executive director, Health Care Without Harm Europe, said: “Born Green Generation is. More than a movement — it’s a call to action for individuals, organisations, and communities to prioritise health in everything we do. We must address the implications of exposure to plastics and toxic chemicals on human life and the resources that sustain us. We aim to inspire lasting change to protect a critical vulnerable population and ensure we see the first generation of babies born into safer, more sustainable, plastic and chemical-free environments in over a century. Together, we can move beyond awareness into impactful action.”
