Patient and Planet: Developing a Tool to Facilitate Design of Medical Products for a Circular Economy

Abstract: Transitioning to a circular economy requires designing products that are meant to remain within and cycle through economic systems. While circular product design principles have been applied across industries, the medical industry presents unique challenges with its complex regulatory requirements and the high-risk nature of innovating with medical products. This thesis aims to contribute to the implementation of circular design strategies in the medical industry by developing a tool to that will enable industry professionals to apply these strategies in practice. Research areas included exploring circular product design principles and strategies in literature, design considerations relevant for medical products, and current industry practices, which contributed to developing the tool. Academic literature was first synthesised and used to structure the subsequent review of industry practices, which involved synthesising and analysing a range of data sources such as interviews, company reports and webpages, industry reports and relevant regulations. A draft tool was developed based on these reviews and refined based on practitioner feedback. The final tool aims to facilitate discussions between stakeholders involved in the design process of medical products and engage them in formulating and implementing circular design strategies. Evaluation of the tool and feedback from practitioners indicates that it adds great value in challenging existing processes and influencing practitioners to consider alternative methods. Medical product safety will continue to be highly regulated, but recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic have clearly demonstrated the interlinkages between planetary and human health. The medical industry has the potential to redesign products to safeguard natural resources without compromising patient safety. The tool developed in this thesis proposes a method to considering industry-specific characteristics in this pursuit.