MOdelling Dynamic Lifecycle Impacts of Circular Procurement in Healthcare (MODLI)

The COVID19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability in supply chain networks in the healthcare sector and the tremendous waste problem of disposable healthcare products, such as isolation gowns. Single-use disposable isolation gowns cause great ecological impact. Reusable gowns can potentially reduce climate impacts and improve the resilience of healthcare systems by ensuring a steady supply in times of high demand. However, scaling reusable, circular isolation gowns in healthcare organizations is not straightforward. It is impeded by economic barriers – such as servicing costs for each use – and logistic and hygiene barriers, as processes for transport, storage and safety need to be (re)designed. Healthcare professionals (e.g. purchasing managers) lack complete information about social, economic and ecological costs, the true cost of products, to make informed circular purchasing decisions. Additionally, the residual value of materials recovered from circular products is overlooked and should be factored into purchasing decisions. To facilitate the transition to circular procurement in healthcare, purchasing managers need more fine-grained, dynamic information on true costs.
Our RAAK Publiek proposal (MODLI) addresses a problem that purchasing managers face – making purchasing decisions that factor in social, economic and ecological costs and future benefits from recovered materials. Building on an existing consortium that developed a reusable and recyclable isolation gown, we design and develop an open-source decision-support tool to inform circular procurement in healthcare organizations and simulate various purchasing options of non-circular and circular products, including products from circular cascades. Circular procurement 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. MODLI aims to support circular procurement policies in healthcare organizations by providing dynamic information for circular procurement decision making.

Eindrapportage

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vulnerability in supply networks in the healthcare sector and the tremendous waste problem and environmental 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 environmental impacts 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 material loops and minimizes negative impacts, such as emissions and waste throughout entire product lifecycles.

We designed and developed an open-source decision-support tool for healthcare procurement professionals to inform purchasing decisions of disposable and reusable isolation gowns. With the decision-support tool the project aims to raise awareness of the critical role circular procurement plays in advancing a circular economy - one that maximizes material value while minimizing resource use and negative impacts such as greenhouse gas emissions, waste, and pollution. We also conducted a stakeholder analysis to identify key actors in the workwear value chain and mapped the material and value flows of circular isolation gowns. In addition, we gained insight into the barriers that healthcare organizations face when adopting circular isolation gowns and strategies they employ to overcome these barriers. Finally, we created educational materials for students to increase awareness and knowledge about circular procurement and will present and publish an academic publication.