Modern medical devices help to greatly reduce disease and infection, but are they good for the environment? As pressure to fight climate change constantly intensifies, more industries are realising that they need to evolve. This post explores how environmentally friendly medical devices are, and how manufacturers can take steps to become more sustainable.
The Process of How Medical Devices Are Made
First of all, let’s take a look at how medical devices are made and how sustainable each element of the process is.
Medical Device Materials
Medical devices are made from a variety of materials. Some of the most common materials include:
Plastics
Many different medical products and devices are made from plastics as it is a lightweight and sterile material. Medical devices widely use polycarbonate, polypropylene and ABS and wound dressings commonly use polyurethane (PU) films and foams. PVC is also widely used for blood bags, catheters and tubing.
One of the biggest environmental drawbacks of traditional medical devices right now is plastic waste. The plastic materials used can often not be easily recycled and end up incinerated or in landfills where they can take hundreds of years to decompose.
Metals
When it comes to diagnostic tools and surgical tools, metals like stainless steel and titanium are commonly used. These materials are durable, easy to sterilise and often recyclable, however, mining and processing these metals can have a negative environmental impact.
The mining for both metals is known to destroy habitats and the production is highly energy intensive, contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. Titanium production specifically requires large amounts of water, leading to potential water scarcity and contamination issues.
Manufacturing Methods
A range of different manufacturing methods are used to produce today’s medical devices. Some of the most common methods include die cutting, injection moulding and 3D printing. These processes require computers and assembly lines of machines that can use a lot of energy which is another environmental drawback.
How Can Medical Devices Become More Environmentally Friendly?
Greater research into organic materials and biomaterials may help to reduce reliance on plastics in the future. The likes of chitosan and alginate have already proved to be promising alternatives for wound dressings, however they may still be incinerated similar to other hospital waste. Some of these materials are biodegradable and possible to harvest sustainably.
Encouraging reusability and recyclability is important. The difficulty comes when different materials are mixed together – as is the case with many forms of wearable digital tech. Making such devices easy to disassemble is one way in which wearable tech companies are already trying to encourage recyclability.
Finally, factories that manufacture medical devices can continue to explore ways of reducing energy usage and chemical emissions. Huge steps have already been made into embracing sustainable power sources and improving air and water purification methods.
Sustainable practices are a big trend for 2025; BDK are working towards gaining ISO14001 this year and will be submitting our initial Ecovadis assessment in-line with our sustainability programme. Get in touch with us today to find out more about our medical device manufacturing capabilities.
