Technology applications are used across nearly all professional sectors. Here, I take a look at how its incorporation to medical sciences affects the environment.

While there are inefficiencies in the traditional services offered by MedTech, there are also modern companies paving the way for a greener future. I spoke with Castor CEO Dr. Derk Arts to get his take on what the potential impacts of MedTech are and how his company strives for greenness.

What Is MedTech?

Simply put, it is any technology that betters or informs on the health aspects of human life. MedTech manifests itself in the form of products, solutions and services. Ranging from your drug store pregnancy test to the more elaborate hospital-based CT scanning machines – it is all encompassed by MedTech. The production and operation of these services and solutions is energy intensive and it is estimated that ~3.2% of total CO2 emissions in England derive from the healthcare industry. Further, a recent study on the environmental footprint of global healthcare suggests that despite advances made in energy and water consumption efficiency, all the environmental impacts studied increased from 2000 to 2015. 

Here are five key environmental impacts of MedTech:

1) Emission of Greenhouse Gases (GHG)

This is one of obvious and well-researched environmental impacts of MedTech. This sector requires energy for maintenance, transport (medical visits), waste disposal processes (incineration), etc. Ultimately, the decreasing the carbon footprint of MedTech will require a drastic reduction in carbon-based energy use, waste production and the widespread application of novel green solutions such as modern hospital architectural design.

2) Emission of non-GHG Air Pollutants

In addition to the release of GHG, health care also contributes to the release of other air pollutants such as particulate matter and carcinogenic chemicals which can cause subsequent health burdens.

3) Hospital Waste

This third aspect of environmental impacts from the MedTech industry is more tangible – hospital waste. This is an expansive term and includes solid and liquid waste that can be hazardous such as chemical, infectious and radioactive waste.

4) Electrical Waste

Hospitals utilize a lot of MedTech products and services which are essentially electrical equipment. These products ultimately end up as e-waste and require proper management. In the European Union, the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE) forms the key regulation in this arena and puts the responsibility and costs of e-waste on the manufacturer. This means that manufacturers should allow all customers to return e-waste and/or recycle free of charge.

5) Water Use

The healthcare industry is a large consumer of a critical resource – water. At the same time, water is a limited resource and the total volume of fresh water used by the industry, the so-called ‘water footprint’ has been studied considerably. When corrected for population growth, data indicate that the per-capita water footprint of health care has increased between 2000 and 2015.

In an interview with the CEO of a Dutch-based MedTech company (Castor), Dr. Derk Arts notes that one of the most important impacts of MedTech is its environmental footprint associated with increased life expectancy. He argues that this could in fact be one of the biggest indirect impacts which people don’t often consider.

Whilst discussing Castor more specifically, Derk reflects that the key sources of carbon emission likely derive from running the office and the server platforms they utilize. To this end, they employ CO2-netural data centres and make efforts to offset their own carbon footprint by donating $5 for every study that goes live on their platform which translates to five trees planted.

One of the key goals of Castor is to enable the re-use of data from clinical trials. This can translate into the need for fewer clinical trials which are associated with participant travel costs, paperwork, prescribed medication and packaging – all of which have an environmental footprint. Interestingly, Derk notes that investors in Castor have responsibilities to be as sustainable as possible.

However, the eco-friendly strides Castor takes are a direct result of his own interest in and for the environment. This is perhaps where the most significant steps to ‘green-ify’ the MedTech industry are required where legislation governs, enforces or subsidizes green solutions.