Workshop on Circular Economy of Materials   - July 2024

The circular economy materials workshop, part of ReMed, was conducted on 22^nd July 2024. ReMed researchers at the University of Leeds organized the workshop.

The workshop focused on selecting key criteria for circular materials selection in medical devices. The medical device stakeholders, which included design engineers, materials supply, regulatory experts, manufacturers, and academia, discussed key criteria and rated their relative importance. The stakeholder's input is crucial since materials selection often involves conflicting and non-commensurable criteria.

Furthermore, the stakeholders reviewed how each criterion can be quantified (e.g., material value as cost, or materials performance). Based on research, a set of criteria has been proposed. These criteria cover the entire life cycle (from materials supply to end-of-life). They are focused purely on Material considerations—with a fixed design in mind. The finalised criteria and weight were subsequently taken to build a practical framework named circular multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM). The circular MCDM serves as a tool for practitioners to select circular medical device materials encompassing all aspects of device life cycles.