Sustainable healthcare: new challenges, new opportunities

It is impossible to talk about sustainable healthcare and medical device sustainability without talking about plastic waste. COVID-19 made the need for billions of single-use devices essential, and our protestations about plastic coffee stirrers and drinking straws became insignificant, but with that phase of the pandemic seemingly behind us, the spotlight is back on environmental sustainability in healthcare.

As plastic value chains are increasingly cross-border, problems and opportunities associated with plastics should be seen in the light of international developments, which, as such, entail documentation, communication, and language challenges. After decades of working with the healthcare industry as members of the Global Compact and thanks to our partnership with the German-Spanish Chamber of Commerce, CPSL is uniquely positioned to lighten the workload and make your green compliance a hallmark of your success in sustainable healthcare.

So what is sustainability in the healthcare context?

The goal is certainly to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, since the late 1970s, the medical device industry has been manufacturing medical devices marked as single-use, in other words, designed to be used on one patient and then discarded. This strategy, however, is incompatible with the European strategy for plastics in a circular economy.

The intentions couldn’t be better, but how can these goals be achieved?

More sustainable healthcare materials

This can be achieved by reducing the number of materials to improve recyclability and considering factors such as transportation, degradation, low-emission production and renewability. Sometimes sustainable materials are unsafe, or their performance is not sufficient. However, many materials are often not used for image reasons as much as due to regulatory issues.

Service life

Continuing to sustainably operate medical devices beyond their useful life can be both hazardous and legally problematic. However, a longer life with fewer service requirements can lead to an improved life cycle assessment.

Use and disposal

Sustainability in the disposal or reuse of medical devices usually depends on the materials used, production methods, and type of device. The European Union is now focusing on planned obsolescence in the consumer world.

More sustainable medical device packaging

This is extremely challenging for medical device manufacturers that produce sterile devices needles and catheters that have to be packaged in an aseptic environment and frequently generate a lot of waste. In addition, new packaging potentially involves a design change, which means testing and re-certification by a notified body.

Corporate structure

Beyond the materials produced, there are aspects of companies that must be made sustainable to achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals and help to save the planet.

Sustainable healthcare, documentation, and communication

Most companies realise they must keep a close eye on changing markets, and research and adapt their products and corporate structures to new requirements, which is a time-consuming task. That is why CPSL is a valued partner for medical device companies, assisting you every step of the way, keeping you up to date with the latest opportunities, and streamlining the path to international expansion by providing efficient, accurate communication, linguistic and document management, for which your company will need localisation services.

Not only do we specialise in translations for all the traditional healthcare sector requirements, such as clinical trials, medical and test reports, MRIs, X-rays, informed consents, the Batch Manufacturing Record (BMR), pharmaceutical documentation and so on, but we are also qualified to manage the new types of medical device sustainability documentation required to certify the complex value chain of the circular economy, with all key players, from plastic packaging and medical device manufacturers and distributors to recyclers, retailers, and consumers.

What do these new documents look like?

The EU has already passed a draft of the European supply chain directive that will certainly require manufacturers to issue policy statements, perform risk analyses, establish complaint mechanisms and publish transparent reports. If all this sounds daunting, rest assured that CPSL is ready to assist with every aspect of these new tasks. You can count on CPSL’s communication, document management, linguistic and technical expertise to assist you with the upcoming requirements for: