Years ago when I worked in live audio we had a similar setup. Zero tolerance for a performer's mic pack dying mid show because a low battery indicator wasn't calibrated right or someone incorrectly tracked how many hours a particular set had been used, so it was fresh-from-the-package alkaline AAs installed before every set, and a virtually unlimited supply of half-charged disposables to take home afterwards. Plenty would get reused for internal equipment checks and sound checks, but there were still more than enough to go around.

At the time (well over a decade ago) there was still lots of skepticism around recharagables and the extra process involved in dealing with them... but the tech has gotten lots better since, at that time even low-self-discharge was sort of hard to find. I'm sure much of the industry has moved over by now.

When it has to be factory-sealed as sterile, there is no point in using a rechargeable.

I would love to end the senseless waste in surgery, but The Powers That Make Our Lives Suck For No Reason want everything to be single-use sterile objects.

Same but with portable infusion pumps. They were always sent out with fresh sets but worked for days on a single set often leaving a lot of life.

Isn't that a biohazard strictly speaking? I'm not sure you want to get caught stealing used surgical equipment for home use.

It’s quite literally trash; I could hardly be described as stealing it.

The batteries are in a separate container that is attached to the bag of saline used for irrigation. It’s not in the surgical field.

> It’s quite literally trash; I could hardly be described as stealing it.

Note that legally trash is still owned, usually by the person or entity which produced it, so it’s technically stealing. (Whether anyone cares is a different thing. If you picked bank letters instead of barely used batteries…)