Why implement life cycle assessment in our industry?
At first glance, embarking on a life cycle analysis (LCA) of blood medical devices, may seem like an impossible task. More specifically for our single-use devices that are an integral part of healthcare, ensuring patient safety. However, their disposable nature raises significant environmental concerns.
For Macopharma, reducing our environmental impact is a key part of our strategy. This involves, among other things, eco-design. LCA enables us to better understand where we’re starting from, so that we can set SMART objectives for our future developments as part of a virtuous process of continuous improvement.
We first spoke about this topic at ISBT Milan with the participation of Dr. Peter Robben, Global Product Manager at Renolit Healthcare, Dra. Linda Larsson, Affiliated Researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Stockhom and Dr. Bruno Delorme, R&D Scientific & Innovation Manager at Macopharma.
Watch the summary of our symposium here: https://youtu.be/_gaig5azrU0
We invite you to discover as well one of the first studies conducted on this subject: Life cycle assessment of a DEHT/PAGGSM reference: a step toward sustainable practices
Discover the study in video : https://youtu.be/U2IDvVTspjk
Authors
A.Lagrange*, S.Pinon*, B.Delorme*, Q. Brebant*
*MacoPharma, Tourcoing, France
Introduction
Sustainability is an increasingly critical focus in the medical industry, driving efforts to reduce the environmental impact of healthcare products. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has emerged as a valuable tool for quantifying environmental impacts and identifying opportunities for improvement across a product’s life cycle. This study evaluates the environmental footprint of the Macopharma DEHT/PAGGSM RQT74AB reference from raw material extraction to end-of-life, providing insights to support sustainable practices in medicaldevice development.
Aim
The primary aim of this LCA was to quantify theenvironmental impacts of the RQT74AB reference,identify key areas for improvement, and establisha pathway toward reducing the product’s carbonfootprint.
Method
The LCA encompassed all phases of the product’slife cycle: raw material extraction, manufacturing,distribution, use, and end-of-life management.Environmental indicators such as energyconsumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waterusage, and waste generation were assessed.Specific attention was given to material selection,particularly the switch from DEHP to DEHT as aplasticizer, and the exploration of strategies toreduce plastic usage.
To know which impacts were the most relevant tostudy, the following method has been applied: atfirst, all indicators of the Product EnvironmentalFootprint methodology have been studied. Thenthe results have been normalized and weighted toisolate the most impactful indicators. Theweighing and normalizing factors have been takenfrom the Product Environmental Footprint method(PEF), one of the main references in LCA.
Results
The indicators arising from this analysis are the ionising radiation (40%), the resource use (18%), the climatechange (17%), the acidification (4%) and the particulate matter (4%). The LCA results revealed that PVCaccounted for the largest environmental impact in the product’s life cycle, contributing 47% to climatechange and resource use, 29% to acidification, 31% to particulate matter, and 69% to ionizing radiation.Polypropylene followed with impacts of 20% in ionizing radiation, 10% in resource use, and less than 10% forother indicators. Other materials contributed less than 10% across all parameters. DEHP proved to be moreenvironmentally toxic than DEHT, showing the switch to this new plasticizer will allow a better environmentalimpact.
Conclusions
This LCA highlights critical impact areas within thelife cycle of the DEHT/PAGGSM RQT74ABreference and demonstrates the potential forsustainable improvements through targetedinterventions. Strategies such as the use of DEHTand reductions in plastic materials are effective inminimizing environmental impacts. These findingsprovide a framework for continued efforts inoptimizing raw material sourcing and processingto achieve further environmental and cost benefitsin medical device production.
Acknowlodgement
Study performed in collaboration with BureauVeritas – LCIE
Macopharma kits were studied (RQT74AB).
References
Curran, M. A. (2013). Life Cycle Assessment: A Review of the Methodology and Its Application to Sustainability. Current Opinionin Chemical Engineering, 2(3), 273–27
Discover the other CSR initiatives we are implementing : CSR Commitments – Macopharma