The cost of a catheter: An environmental perspective on single use clean intermittent catheterization.

Single-use CIC may generate up to 85 million pounds or 206 million liters of waste annually, equivalent to more than 26 000 cars or 80 Olympic-sized swimming pools. Laid end-to-end, there is enough catheter length circumscribe the world more than 5.5 times. The most common materials used in catheter construction have little to no degradation once in a landfill. Given the unproven clinical benefit of single-use catheterization, the environmental impact and alternatives should be considered.