Abstract Body

Diabetes Technology and waste: how to turn greener? For EU

Lutz Heinemann, Düsseldorf, Germany

Diabetes Technology (DT) is widely used in the EU, with rapid increases in the usage of certain medical products, e.g. systems for continuous glucose monitoring. The well-known pros of doing so, concerning improvements in glucose control, are associated with cons like an increase in the economic burden for the healthcare systems, but also with a lot of (plastic) waste. In the EU it is the political will to reduce plastic waste drastically. The EU Commission has issued several respective regulations, which currently mainly address plastic disposable items like bags; however, in the end also the situation with medical products (which are often exempt from such considerations) has to be improved. For example, in the Medical Device Regulation (MDR) it is clearly stated that the design of medical products should be so, that waste production is reduced or even avoided. One can envisage that such conditions will become even more rigid soon, the MDR is in constant “development”. Many manufacturers of products used for diabetes therapy are located outside the EU; however, also these will have to fulfill EU requirements. Given the long periods needed to change production lines/develop new products, it is obvious that the manufacturers are already considering and implementing such changes.

In addition, patients with diabetes and diabetologists are becoming rapidly more sensitive to environmental aspects of diabetes therapy, with certain differences between countries in the EU. This also exerts pressure on manufacturers to reduce waste and recycle wherever this is meaningful and possible. Several country-specific aspects/activities do exist at the country level, driven by regional diabetes associations; however, to my knowledge, there is no EU-wide initiative in the diabetes arena. A coordinative activity by, e.g., by the EASD is missing. This also holds true for patient associations like the IDF-Europe.

What can be done immediately on a practical level is to provide appropriate information/training to patients with diabetes about how to handle the (plastic) waste generated. Because of the activities in the US (i.e. the Green Diabetes Declaration, in which specific tasks are given to all parties involved), we should adjust this declaration to the EU situation and establish a Task Force which pushes a change in the EU ahead.