"Many health care facilities are embracing sustainable practices as a smarter way to do business," according to Kadamus. To save on spending, they are purchasing and using eco-friendly products that are PVC-free, mercury free and lead-free. This, in turn, will allow the medical device industry to cut back on packing materials, design products for disassembly and recyclability and support end-of-life product reclamation programs. Kadamus says, "many of the key tenants of sustainable product concept of product life cycle design stem from understanding and developing a product life cycle, not just a product."

The product life cycle design concept
The concept of product life cycle design considers all stages of product existence, including concept development, material selection, design and engineering, manufacturing, packaging, transportation, sales, use and end-of-life disposal during the initial product planning stages. Each stage is evaluated from the perspectives of energy efficiency, environmental impact, material usage, human effort and cost. "Performed correctly, product life cycle design can lead to significant improvements in manufacturing efficiency, and improve time to market, risk reduction efficient material and energy usage, safety and regulatory compliance, and packaging and transportation costs," says Kadamus. Designing products for easy disassembly, minimizing bulky or nonessential packaging, reducing part count, moderating the use of dissimilar injection-molded materials and eliminating toxic or hazardous materials (lead and PVC, for instance) help to meet the goals for sustainable design as well as those for efficient, low-cost design. "With respect to disposable medical products, choosing materials that limit environmental damage during disposal and incineration can reduce toxic air emissions and reduce waste processing costs," he says.


Reprocessing single-use-devices
Single-use-devices (SUDs) reprocessing has been evaluated for safety and cleaning efficacy by various groups within the health care industry including The Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses, The American Hospital Association, The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, and The American College of Cardiology. Among these groups, several have introduced Industry Statements that support the use of SUDs based on reports issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The GAO concluded that FDA oversight has increased since 2000, and available information does not indicate that the use of SUDS presents an elevated health risk.

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