Digital Health in a Circular Economy (DiCE) project was created to bring key stakeholders together to address challenges associated with the growing use of digital healthcare products. DiCE will support the transition from a fragmented and linear “take-make-waste” business model towards a circular and sustainable one, allowing the reuse of products and recovery of components and raw materials.
In the newsletter below you will find the most recent updates on the project: from it's kick off in October last year to the most recent 'sustain-a-thons', as well as some interim findings.
Launch of collaboration that aims to tackle rapidly increasing quantity of digital health waste
Launched in October 2022, DiCE project, led by Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, aims to address the issue of increasing digital health waste. It will do so by targeting every point in the lifecycle of digital health devices from design to disposal.
The DiCE collaboration involves 20 organisations from nine countries, representing the manufacturing industry, research, and recycling sectors. The project commenced on 1st October and will conclude in September 2026. It has received funding through the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme.
First Sustain-a-thon in Belgium
On Thursday, 23 February, DiCE partners, LiCalab and Games for Health organised the first sustain-a-thon of its kind in Belgium. The event focussed on two questions: how do we reduce the impact of medical e-waste on the environment and how do we develop circular solutions to recycle components of digital health devices? Healthcare professionals and citizens tackled the issue and together came up with interesting insights and possible solutions.
The first public sustain-a-thon session of DiCE aimed to foster a creative space to discover the needs and habits of the local population of Belgium around circularity and healthcare. A total of 11 professionals and 10 citizens attended this brainstorming event. Joining forces, they talked through waste streams and sorting options from the point of view of both hospitals and local citizens. The workshop resulted in optimised and new ideas for collection systems and for a better design of digital health devices. The mutual discussions also uncovered interesting user behaviours and provided a reasoning that will serve as a basis for nudging strategies.
In the coming weeks, two more sustain-a-thons will take place in Slovenia (30th March) and Spain (13th April). After our final session, DiCE partners will be able to further develop the project’s so called “nudging strategies” ultimately resulting in increased collection rates for digital health waste.
The bumpy road to sustainable healthcare: why is circularity so challenging for digital healthcare devices?
Well-designed health devices can save human lives. However, they also make a large contribution to the expanding quantity of global (e-)waste and thus climate change, which the WHO describes as “the biggest health threat facing humanity”. Circular strategies for these devices, such as reuse, recycling, and remanufacturing promise much but are difficult to create and implement.
TU Delft leads the circular design research team in DiCE. This team will develop an inventory of best practices for circularity in digital health devices; develop and test circular design prototypes for the four focus products in the project (e-paper label, endo-cutter, smart pill box and a smart wearable sensor); and ultimately develop and validate a set of design guidelines for developing circular digital health devices in the future. As one of its first activities in DiCE, TU Delft aimed to uncover why circularity is so challenging for digital healthcare devices. PhD candidate, Tamara Hoveling tells us more.
Dutch circularity tour
In early March, Daniel Millet, Chief Business Developer and Sophia Kalinina, Project Manager, from GRIN AS travelled to the Netherlands to meet DiCE project partners from work package three. Work package three is looking into developing technology and processes covering the entire reverse logistics chain from collection to refurbishment and recycling.
Daniel and Sophia were joined by partners from Philips (Hans Leijen and Pien Schaeffers), MIREC (Alfred Jager) and Games for Health (René Luigies), and spent the day discussing collection, and reverse logistics solutions for digital health devices. After a fruitful theoretical workshop, they were guided through MIREC's electronics recycling facilities to have a first hand experience and insight into the daily workings of a recycling plant.
"Quite the eye opener, and something we would recommend anyone working with circularity to do. Learn and see in detail what happens to products after they are collected/disposed. To build sustainable circular business models beyond pilots, this is key."
Partners' visit in Beerse
Partners from Delft University of Technology and UGent were excited to visit Janssen's (Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson) clinical supply chain packaging and labelling facility in Beerse (Belgium). They have been explained the clinical supply chain and how the ePaper label works in practice and had the chance to visit to the packaging and labelling facilities. It was also an occasion to discuss the tasks related to circular design and life cycle assessment.
What is an ePaper label?
One of the four products DiCE partners are evaluating at the moment. It's a non-medical electronic device replacing traditional paper-based labels. These labels are mainly used on medication kits in clinical research.
World Resources Forum conference 2023
Project partner World Resources Forum is organising its 2023 conference on 4-6 September in Geneva, Switzerland under the theme of 'Rethinking Value - Resources For Planetary Wellbeing'.
Keep an eye out for more details as you might be able to learn more about DiCE!
Where to hear about DiCE?
Find more about the project at different conferences and workshops where it will be presented.
Going Green - Care Innovation 2023 | 8-11 May 2023 | Vienna, Austria
E-Waste World | 28-29 June 2023 | Frankfurt, Germany
Innovation in Clinical Trials 2023 | 11-12 September 2023 | London, United Kingdom
Open Living Lab Days | 21-23 September 2023 | Barcelona, Spain
Join our network!
Stakeholders’ contributions are crucial for the project! Our goal is to create a network that will provide feedback to enable us to understand end user needs, collect data, test outcomes and raise awareness through sharing results.
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