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Planet

Reducing waste to
protect the environment

Promoting environmental sustainability by reducing and recycling

Our planet bears proof of an indisputable truth: waste is piling up in landfills and oceans around the world. Unfortunately, medical devices contribute to that waste. From single-use syringes to decommissioned insulin pumps, there is an environmental cost to the safe delivery of healthcare. As a leader in the medical device industry, we’re tackling product waste and striving for a more sustainable future.

Reimagining our work to reduce and recycle

Hospitals in the United States produce more than 5 million tons of medical waste each year.1  Items used in operating rooms must be sterile, which creates the need for single-use items, most of which are either incinerated or sent to a landfill for disposal. We work with hospitals around the world to reduce waste. In early FY22, we set two new product stewardship targets:

  • By FY25, Medtronic will complete packaging improvements to reduce packaging waste by 25% for targeted high-volume products (tied to weight, material selection, and sourcing) compared to a FY21 baseline.
  • By FY27, Medtronic will minimize the impact of Instructions for Use (IFUs) through a 35% paper reduction, compared to a FY21 baseline. 

While we help healthcare systems reduce medical waste, we also work to reduce waste across our operational spectrum – from research and development to manufacturing and distribution. We are constantly looking for new ways to reduce and recycle. Sometimes this means reimagining the way we do our work. At one of our facilities in Galway, Ireland, for example, we changed the way we used chemicals in the manufacturing process to help cut total waste generation by 34%.

A product's second life

Many of our devices are implanted in the body, so recycling is difficult. But we do look for opportunities to refurbish and reprocess select products to give them a second life when appropriate. For example, we collect:

  • Nellcor™ pulse oximetry devices to recycle or remanufacture
  • MyCareLink™ Heart monitors to refurbish and redeploy
  • Surgical technologies for energy generation from waste

In FY22, we took back more than 6.2 million products, diverting more than 300 metric tons of waste from landfills.

Warehouse worker packing supplies

Less packaging, less waste

Plastics and other packaging materials are important to the safe delivery of medical devices. But plastic pollution is a growing global issue. As a member of the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council, we are working on economically viable solutions.2  For example, in FY21, we shrank the sterile packaging volume for our spinal cord stimulation needles, reducing GHG emissions related to this product.

A more environmentally sustainable supply chain

Reducing packaging waste requires working with vendors in our supply chain. PKG Packaging is a small, minority-owned business based in Oxnard, California, that specializes in innovative and sustainable packaging for businesses. Since 1998, they have provided Medtronic with biodegradable and compostable packaging solutions for insulin pumps used by patients with diabetes.

Packaging workers sealing boxes

Employees go green — small changes, big difference

Being a good environmental steward means creating a culture where employees feel empowered to drive sustainability in the workplace. Our employees are leading efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle items used in our offices around the world. Under one global, employee-led initiative, we made our meetings “greener” by eliminating plastic bottles, reducing ground transportation, and eliminating paper by using a mobile meeting app. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we have pivoted to virtual meetings, which benefits the environment and reduces our costs. For example, during the first quarter of fiscal year 2021, we saved 29,568 pounds of paper, 960 pounds of plastic water bottles, and 384,000 pounds of jet fuel.

Office workers at desks

In 2019, by promoting reusable utensils, cups, and dishes, employees in our Fort Worth, Texas, office eliminated more than 600,000 Styrofoam cups at an annual cost savings of $12,000. They also started a weekly cleanup of the facility and surrounding property, a gardening club, and two recycling programs.

"If everyone here stopped using Styrofoam, that's 3,000 cups a week saved from the landfill,” said Sandra Rosas, a project manager who led the initiative. “It only takes a small change to make a big difference."

Medtronic is committed to reducing waste and working with healthcare systems and supply chains to do the same. From our office workers to the engineers working in labs, each of us can be part of the solution. The path ahead is challenging, but together we can make great progress.

  1. https://practicegreenhealth.org/membership/awards/sustainability-benchmark-reports
  2. https://www.hprc.org/

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