Medical Design Briefs - August 2022 - 28

A new proof-of-concept drug-delivery
device demonstrates how various
medical-grade polycarbonates and
blends can simplify sorting and recycling
after disposal of biocontaminated
pieces. (Credit: Covestro)
Accelerating
Sustainability in
the Healthcare
Industry
I
n today's world, many consumers are demanding that
brands and corporations become more sustainable and
make a dedicated effort to reduce their carbon footprint.
This has led companies to show how they are helping the
planet by setting environmental, social, and governance
(ESG) goals, such as achieving zero-waste, lowering their carbon
footprint, and switching to more sustainable, recyclable
products. In many industries, such as consumer packaged
goods, there are a variety of companies and options, allowing
consumers to make a conscious decision to switch to more recyclable
or eco-friendly alternatives. So, companies that are not
making moves to become more sustainable will likely be at a
competitive disadvantage in the future.
But there are some industries, like the healthcare industry,
that provide lifesaving solutions, where functionality and quality
were believed to outweigh sustainability concerns. Purchase
decisions were made based on patient outcome and cost, rather
than environmental impact. As the United Nations Sustainable
Development Goals already recognize improvement of
wellbeing, healthcare companies were already viewed as contributing
positively to society.
However, if we are going to solve the climate crisis and become
fully circular, it will require global effort and collaboration
across every industry, including healthcare. And the
healthcare industry is responding. Many medical and pharmaceutical
companies, and even healthcare providers and hospitals,
have set sustainability-related targets, such as achieving
zero-waste and climate-neutrality, as part of their ESG goals.
Hospitals are switching to energy-efficient lighting, sourcing
food from local distributors instead of vendors traveling from
distant locations to reduce gas emissions, and are also converting
food waste into compost. Pharmaceutical companies are
looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions during the drug
manufacturing process, reusing waste materials when possible,
and creating closed-loop systems across the entire value chain.
28
To achieve these goals, the healthcare industry is rethinking
device design and end-of-use with a view to reduce waste
through better materials recycling and innovative approaches
to reduce overall carbon footprint, such as using non-fossil
sourced plastics. More sustainable approaches, while still providing
the same functionality and quality, will lie at the heart of
the development process. In many cases, the materials previously
chosen for medical devices were based on functionality
only, and end-of-life disposal and sustainability were not a consideration.
But this is changing; designers are now reconsidering
design and material choices for medical devices to facilitate
recovery, reuse, and reduced carbon footprint.
Increased recyclability is well established in packaging, and,
in the past few years, attention is shifting to other areas. The
healthcare industry has seen the use of drug-delivery devices
grow over a number of years as innovative new drugs administered
at home have come to the market. That is why the healthcare
industry is rethinking device design and material choices
used for drug-delivery devices to reduce medical waste, avoid
landfill or incineration, and reduce carbon footprint.
Reducing Medical Waste
Many medical devices that are used today, including drugdelivery
devices, are made from a variety of plastics that are not
compatible with one another (if blended as an alloy). This
makes it challenging to recycle and recover materials because it
requires the materials to be sorted first. And it is very likely that
these incompatible materials will become inadvertently mixed
together, which limits the recyclability and the value of this
waste stream. In order to reduce medical waste, we need to reassess
what materials we are using - and use compatible materials
- to simplify the recycling process.
At Covestro, for example, we have shown that polycarbonates
can be formulated to meet almost any function. This versatility
allows us to design devices, such as drug-delivery devicwww.medicaldesignbriefs.com
Medical
Design Briefs, August 2022
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Medical Design Briefs - August 2022

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