How are End-of-Life strategies adopted in Product-Service Systems? A systematic review of general cases and cases of medical devices industry
Year: 2019
Editor: Wartzack, Sandro; Schleich, Benjamin; Gon
Author: Damha, Leticcia Giovana; Trevisan, Adriana Hofmann; Costa, Daniel Guzzo; Costa, Janaina Mascarenhas Hornos
Series: ICED
Institution: University of S
Section: Product-Service-System (PSS) Design
DOI number: https://doi.org/10.1017/dsi.2019.313
ISSN: 2220-4342
Abstract
Little study has been done on the adoption of End-of-Life (EoL) strategies on the medical devices industry, despite the reasons why it is an important area of study for the implementation of circularity. The rates of waste in the medical field are alarming and tend to grow. Though presenting a wide potential for EoL strategies implementation, the medical field is also inherently challenging, considering the rigid regulations and product's risk to patients life. This paper analyses 17 Product-Service System case studies identified in the literature. Eleven of them are from various fields of industry, whereas the other six are applied to the medical devices industry. The adoption of EoL strategies - namely repair, reconditioning, remanufacture and recycling - is analysed in each case and compared for the two categories of cases. This adoption is related to the sources of value creation in Circular Economy, to the PSS typology and, at last, special EoL treatment for medical devices is discussed.
Keywords: Circular economy, Product-Service Systems (PSS), Sustainability, Medical Devices, End-of-Life