Greiner Innoventures Challenge Lead 2022
March 28, 2022 2022-04-01 8:25Greiner Innoventures Challenge Lead 2022
Greiner Innoventures
MediCIRCULAR
“How might we implement circularity in hospitals and medical labs, as we aim to reduce waste, reuse materials and recycle where possible?”
Medical analysisproducts (like e.g. the Cov19 “Gurgeltest”) are often packaged in multiple layers, made out of virgin plastic and are intended for single-use to meet the highest hygienic requirements. This, of course, produces a lot of waste. This problem has not yet been analysed in terms of sustainability concerning e.g. recyclability, emmission intensity or circularity. For example, which packaging is absolutely necessary, which packaging could be reduced? Which products can be recyled? Which products can be reused? How can we enable the customer to handle the waste? Can we use alternative materials?
Products that are contaminated are currently incinerated due to regulatory requirements. Lab waste takes up valuable space due to the quantity and volume and the handling is costly and ineffivient. Our customers face increasing pressure by various stakeholders to be “more sustainable”. Customers must acquire the knowledge on how to treat the waste/ recycle by themselves. Logistics are often a key emmission factor, e.g. the transportation to recyclers or to sterilization/decontamination. Alternative materials currently play a very underdeveloped role in the medical field.
- More and more waste (also due due to trends like remote/preventive healthcare and the Corona crisis)
- Increasing costs: countries like the UK are taxing products that do not contain recycled material
- Loss in market share: Competitors could provide more sustainable solutions, e.g. use “less waste” as a sales argument
- Losing reputation, brand image as we do not achieve internal and external sustainability goals and KPIs
Alternative products & services, products designed for recycling, circular business models and value propositions, solutions that provide guidance to / involvement of customers and users, closed-loop solutions, reduction of packaging, redesign of products/packaging, reuse models, platform solutions, alternative material solutions, …
For more than 150 years, Greiner is one of the world’s leading suppliers of plastics and foam solutions. So that it stays that way, Greiner Innoventures, the group’s innovation center, has developed the organizational framework for a holistic innovation strategy and has defined the stages from a very fuzzy front end to integration into the group.
