Together, the studies demonstrate that improving healthcare sustainability requires changes across clinical workflows, logistics, product design and recovery systems rather than focusing only on materials inside individual devices.
DiCE also produced a Circularity Dashboard, a policy-support tool that turns complex system data into accessible insight. It helps policymakers compare circularity, cost and environmental performance across 'what-if' scenarios: circulardigitalhealth.eu/circularity-dashboard/
Pilots demonstrate practical solutions
The project moved beyond research by testing circular solutions in real-world settings.
Consumer pilots involving 414 participants in Belgium, Spain and Slovenia found that more than 60% of participants were willing to return unwanted healthcare devices when convenient collection systems were available.
The project also evaluated practical reverse logistics solutions, including dedicated GRIN collection boxes (smart automated return-collection machines) alongside pharmacy-based and postal return systems, demonstrating that convenient collection infrastructure is essential for recovering valuable products and materials.
A practical roadmap for industry
The report concludes that healthcare can reduce electronic waste without compromising clinical performance or patient safety.
Future systems should be designed to keep products and materials in circulation for as long as possible through better design, repair, refurbishment, reuse and, ultimately, high-quality recycling.
Says Caroline Allard, Senior Sustainability Manager at Philips: "Digital technologies are redefining healthcare through connected devices, AI, and data-driven care. Yet this transformation also increases demand for materials, energy, and resources. Our challenge as manufacturers is to decouple better health outcomes from greater environmental impact-by designing products, services, and business models that keep materials in use for longer and minimise waste."
Top 5 findings from the research:
1. Healthcare devices contain valuable materials that are being thrown away
Blood pressure monitors, glucose meters, hearing aids, smart watches and other health devices contain copper, gold, lithium and rare earth elements. Many today are incinerated at their end of life, wasting valuable resources.
2. Reuse can dramatically reduce environmental impacts
Reusable ECG lead sets, for example, reduced environmental impacts by 81-94% compared with disposable alternatives.
3. The biggest environmental savings may come from smarter system design
Digital technologies can sometimes reduce overall environmental impacts when they improve healthcare efficiency, shorten hospital stays or reduce waste elsewhere in the system.
4. Most people have no idea what to do with used medical devices
Many patients want to dispose of devices responsibly but do not know where to return them or whether they can be reused. Better collection systems make doing the right thing much easier.
5. This is one of the few environmental problems with a practical solution
Unlike many environmental challenges, the tools already exist: better design, repair, refurbishment, collection systems, recycling and clearer rules. The report concludes that a more circular healthcare system is achievable if manufacturers, healthcare providers, governments and patients work together
To support implementation, the project has also produced practical training materials (available at https://circulardigitalhealth.eu/files) to help manufacturers, healthcare providers and policymakers adopt circular approaches.
DiCE project by the numbers
- 20 participating organisations from nine European countries
- 414 citizens took part in pilot collection projects
- 60%+ were willing to return unwanted devices when convenient systems were available
- 81-94% reduction in environmental impacts using reusable ECG lead sets
- 27% reduction in pharmaceutical manufacturing climate impacts through digital labels
- 12% reduction in overall surgical climate impacts using powered electronic staplers
- 90% potential material recovery from redesigned powered surgical staplers versus 51% today
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