On this page
Over the past few decades, the use of disposable materials in the healthcare sector has increased dramatically: gloves, masks, packaging, instruments, etc. According to the World Health Organization, each hospital bed produces 1 to 4 kilograms of waste daily.
This 'disposable model' leads to growing mountains of waste and higher carbon emissions. Belgium took an important step at COP 26: it pledged to work toward a lower-emission healthcare system. Circular principles are essential in this regard.
On 15 March 2023, the Department of Well-being, Public Health and Family, in collaboration with various partners, launched the Green Deal Sustainable Care. Circularity is one of the four major themes within this green deal.
The challenge is clear: how to reduce plastic waste and CO₂ emissions without sacrificing care quality? This page explores circular procurement strategies in the care sector.
Watch the webinar "Circular Procurement in the Healthare Sector," which took place on Tuesday 10 October 2023, here (in Dutch). This event was organised in collaboration with OVAM and Circular Flanders as part of the Green Deal Sustainable Healthcare. You can view the accompanying presentation slides here.
Examples
Circular strategies
Objective 1: Reduce the total quantities of materials
- Share within the organisation: have medical equipment, furniture and facilities move between departments or care institutions. This means less new purchases and it makes the best use of existing resources.
- Rent or share with others: consider renting medical equipment or start sharing formulas for expensive devices you only need temporarily. That way, you save costs and extend the useful life.
- Reuse and upgrade: see if existing equipment can be refurbished or upgraded before buying new. That lowers costs and the environmental impact.
- Choose equipment with minimal use of materials, for example, with minimal unnecessary parts and with efficient use of raw materials. Avoid products with a lot of 'air' in the packaging to avoid unnecessary waste.
- Reduce waste:
- Utilise what is already there: study whether existing infrastructure can be adapted for new uses.
- Use reusable packaging: ask suppliers for sustainable packaging that will be taken back.
- Give priority to versatile components: for example, devices that combine multiple functions, such as monitors that take different measurements. This reduces the number of devices and materials required.
Objective 2: reduce non-renewable virgin inputs
- Choose materials with a low environmental impact: from recycled and biobased materials to materials with a small carbon footprint. This applies to everything, from medical equipment to furniture. That way, you reduce the environmental impact and make the care sector more sustainable.
- Design for disassembly and/or recycling: ensure that equipment and furniture can be easily taken apart at the end of its useful life. That way, parts can be reused or recycled. Avoid difficult to separate combinations of materials such as composite fabrics or excessive adhesive.
- Know your materials: ask for insight into how much recycled, biobased and virgin material is used in care products. Have this recorded in product descriptions or supplier agreements so you can make informed choices.
- Use more recycled materials: choose care products that are largely made of recycled materials, such as plastics, metals or paper.
- Consider consumption during use: when selecting a product, take into account energy, water and gas consumption during the use phase. Choose fuel-efficient equipment that consumes less, to save costs and reduce your care institution's carbon footprint.
Objective 3: extend useful life
- Modular design: choose medical equipment with parts that you can replace or renew separately. That way, you don't have to dispose of the whole device if one part is broken or obsolete.
- Design for disassembly: make sure that care products are easy to take apart at the end of their life. That way, it's easier to reuse or recycle parts.
- Demand longer warranties: ask for extended warranty periods. That way, you encourage suppliers to deliver better quality and your institution saves on repair and replacement costs.
- Maintenance agreements: clearly define in contracts how maintenance and repairs will be taken care of. Equipment then stays working properly for longer and you are less likely to have to replace it.
- Choose adaptable products: choose products you can upgrade with new technologies. Then you don't have to keep buying new equipment if there are new innovations.
- Focus on repairability: products that are easy to repair or maintain, extend their useful life, reduce waste and save costs.
Objective 4: maximise possible reuse of product (parts)
- Design for disassembly: find products that you can easily take apart at the end of their life. This makes reusing parts and materials easier.
- Modular design: thanks to individual modules that you can replace or upgrade separately, you don't have to replace the entire product.
- Standardised design: standard parts that fit into different products are more efficient and make reuse easier.
- Take-back agreements: agree in contracts that suppliers take back products or parts for reuse or refurbishing.
- Encourage circular business models: lease, reuse or refurbished products extend the useful life and reduce waste.
Objective 5: maximise possible reuse of materials
- Design for recycling: find products that you can easily disassemble and whose materials are easy to recycle. Products with just one material (mono-materials) should be given priority.
- Know your materials: in your criteria, ask for an overview of plastic parts. That makes recycling and sorting much easier.
- Make agreements regarding take-back: agree in writing that the supplier will take back products at the end of their useful life and ensure that they are recycled correctly.
- Avoid harmful substances: choose products without toxic chemicals. Find safer alternatives to medical equipment and disinfectants. Both to protect patients and staff and to close the materials loop. Health Care Without Harm has published a list of substances to avoid.
- Encourage circular business models: lease, reuse or refurbished products extend life and reduce waste.
Criteria for purchasing healthcare products
These tools will put you on the right path:
- EU GPP website: comprehensive file of criteria for electrical and electronic equipment for the care sector. They need to be updated, but definitely provide inspiration.
- SRPP criteria tool: criteria and links to other criteria sources for cases where the Flemish government itself has none available.
- Website of the Flemish government: sustainability criteria for different product groups such as textiles, food, detergents and cosmetics.
- Nappies and incontinence materials sheet in the Guide to Sustainable Procurement provides criteria, clauses and tools for this product group.
