The need for circular procurement in healthcare

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability in supply networks in the healthcare sector and the tremendous waste problem and ecological impact of disposable healthcare products such as isolation gowns. Reusable gowns on the other hand can potentially reduce climate impacts and improve the resilience of healthcare systems by ensuring a steady supply in times of high demand. However, scaling the use of reusable, circular isolation gowns in healthcare organizations is not straightforward. It is impeded by economic, logistics and hygiene barriers, as processes for transport, storage and safety need to be (re)designed. Furthermore, healthcare professionals, such as purchasing managers, often lack complete information about social, economic and ecological costs of products and future benefits from recovered materials. Circular procurement, however, is considered a key driver in the transition to a circular economy as it contributes to closing energy and material loops and minimizes negative impacts and waste throughout entire product lifecycles.

The 2-year MODLI project will start in September 2023 and aims to facilitate the transition towards circular procurement in healthcare by designing and developing an open-source decision-support tool to inform circular procurement in healthcare organizations. The project further focuses on mapping business models emphasizing different ownership and service models, an analysis of opportunities to adapt the decision support tool to other circular products in healthcare and other sectors, use cases and best practices illustrating the benefits of circular procurement and educational material.

AUAS & partnerships

The MODLI project is led by the Amsterdam University of Applied sciences and the consortium builds on existing partnerships and includes the Amsterdam Economic Board , two large healthcare institutions, an industrial laundry company, a waste management company (waste-to-product) and fabric production and textile engineering specialists.

The project falls under the professorship Collaborative Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) led by Dr. Lori Divito and involves AUAS researchers Dr. Amir Ghasemi and Zita Ingen-Housz.

For more information, please contact Zita Ingen-Housz