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Hemodialysis has a significant impact on the environment through the high need of water and energy; furthermore dialysis generates large amounts of plastic waste. However, the environmental impact of “used” dialysis machines is less studied; this is the topic of our research. The aim of this project is to rethink the design of the hemodialysis machines with a circular economy approach.This project is divided in two phases:
1. Disassemble to understand
2. Project to build
This abstract describes the first phase.
A team of four undergraduate students, and a resident guided by three dialysis technicians dismantled two dialysis machines which recently completed their obsolescence cycle: Fresenius 5008 CorDiax and Artis/Evosys. Dialysis machines were disassembled into macro-elements. All elements were weighed and divided according to the predominant material (plastic, metal and electrical and electronic waste (WEEE)). All phases were filmed, time needed was recorded, and all elements were photographed and classified with respect to their potential for recycling.
Dismantling a dialysis machine took over a work day just to disassemble the main components. In total, we estimated that at least one work week is needed to manually separate small elements. Plastic and metal components are usually fixed together, hence the category “mainly plastic”, “mainly metal” or “mixed” (Table 1). Electrical and electronic waste (WEEE) is included in the “mixed” category.
Environmental issues should encourage manufacturers to find new paradigms. At a time when most producers are rethinking (or redesigning) their models, such as the Fairphone for smartphones and the Framework for laptops, medical industry still has a long way to go. Eco-design should be chosen to improve the maintenance and lifespan of machines promoting reuse of each component. According to the cradle-to-cradle philosophy, as biowaste return to the biosphere, technical material should return to the technosphere. It is time to move towards a true circular economy process through rethinking design and life of biomedical machines.