How are End-of-Life Strategies Adopted in Product-Service Systems? A Systematic Review of General Cases and Cases of Medical Devices Industry

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.

Circular economy business model innovation: Sectorial patterns within manufacturing companies

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Motivations Behind Actors’ Cooperation in Circular Ecosystems: A Systematic Literature Review and a Brazilian Case Study

“…The 9R's has been proposed as a more comprehensive and integrated structure for circularity (Okorie et al, 2018). In line with Damha et al (2019), the SLR's unit of analysis was empirical studies already published in the literature. In this case, a paper can present more than one case to be examined.…”

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“…In detail, the development process is the most impactful, as many prototypes are produced and, after meeting regulatory requirements and passing rigorous qualification phases, only a handful are released on the market [44]. Accordingly, this sector presents great potential for the implementation of end-of-life (EoL) approaches aimed at improving the environmental performances of the overall equipment life cycle and putting into practice circular economy strategies [45]. Increasing the reuse, refurbishment, and remanufacturing options can, together with a proper maintenance service, allow the transition from a single life cycle to a multiple product life cycles approach [46].…”