The Sustainable Healthcare Podcast

How do you cut 40% of the carbon out of a clinical trial without changing the price? You rent the equipment instead of buying it.

In this episode of the Sustainable Healthcare Podcast, part of our mini-series with the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition's Community of Practice for Clinical Trials, Frederik Dam van Deurs speaks with Alejandra Medina, Chief Sustainability Officer at Quipment, the French, B Corp-certified provider of equipment solutions for clinical trials.

About the guest: Alejandra Medina is Chief Sustainability Officer at Quipment SAS, a Nancy-based company founded in 2010 that equips and maintains clinical trial sites across 110+ countries. She joined as quality director and led Quipment through its B Corp certification.

Three things you'll take away:
An equipment-rental ("equipment-as-a-service") model is circular by design: returning, reprocessing and redeploying devices keeps them in near-constant use across the value chain.
- Quipment's benchmark, built for B Corp certification, shows a 40% carbon-footprint reduction moving from a linear to a circular model, comparable to the saving the Sustainable Markets Initiative estimates from more digital trials.
- The real bottleneck for circularity isn't the technology, it's convincing the actors in the trial supply chain that circular is just as safe, compliant and high-performance as linear.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction
02:00 Meet Alejandra: from Mexico to Nancy
03:00 What Quipment does: equipping and maintaining trial sites
05:00 The portfolio: ECGs, infusion pumps, data loggers and 3,000+ products
07:00 Becoming a B Corp: how the assessment revealed a circular model
09:00 Circular by design: rent, return, reprocess, redeploy
13:00 Where circularity breaks down in clinical trials
16:00 The cost question: services at the same price
18:00 Informing the choice: tools over mandates
19:00 The Quipment Carbon Compass: a comparator, not a calculator
20:00 40% carbon reduction, linear vs circular
23:00 The new seven-pillar B Corp standard
25:00 What gives Alejandra hope

References and links:
Sustainable Healthcare Coalition, Community of Practice for Clinical Trials: https://shcoalition.org/sustainable-clinical-trials-knowledge-hub/
B Corp certification (B Lab): https://www.bcorporation.net/
Quipment B Corp profile: https://www.bcorporation.net/en-us/find-a-b-corp/company/quipment-sas/
Alejandra Medina on LinkedIn: https://fr.linkedin.com/in/alejandra-medina-3315185
Quipment: https://www.quipment.com/

You might also enjoy:
Episode 102, Sustainable Clinical Trials (1): Convien & myoncare with Christian Hieronimi: https://carepathwayconsulting.com/podcast/podcast-episode-102/

Host links:
Joachim Almdal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joachim-espeland-almdal-017a6973/
Frederik van Deurs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederikvandeurs/
Care Pathway Consulting: https://carepathwayconsulting.com

"Quipment Carbon Compass isn't a calculator, it's a comparator. We didn't change anything; we just changed the way we explain our business. We were circular by design from the beginning." - Alejandra Medina

Structured Material Selection: Building Sustainable Medical Devices with Plastics
How do you make a medical device more sustainable without blowing up the business case? Lucas Pianegonda breaks down the structured way to choose plastics, and why the first win is usually deleting a requirement, not changing a material.

ABOUT THE GUEST
Lucas R. Pianegonda is founder and lead plastic expert at Gradical (Switzerland), a consultancy that helps medtech companies select materials that are technically sound, compliant, and lower-footprint. Material scientist by training, he also hosts the podcast now called MedTech Sustainability by Design.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Over-requirement is the biggest hidden source of cost and carbon. Challenge every "must be medical grade" before you reach for a greener material.
- The plastic pyramid: moving down from high-performance plastics (PEEK) to engineering or commodity grades, where the part allows, cuts footprint and cost at once. Twenty years ago we just called it optimising.
- You don't need a 50,000 euro LCA to decide. A rough Excel or OpenLCA estimate gets you within ~20-25%. The certified LCA is for making public claims, which the EU's Empowering Consumers Directive now requires you to back with data.
TIMESTAMPS (adjust to audio)
00:00 - Intro and Lucas's path into materials
04:00 - Four forces driving sustainability in medtech
12:00 - Why SME device makers struggle to specialise
18:00 - Structured material selection and the value analysis
24:00 - The plastic pyramid and downgrading
30:00 - Rough vs. certified LCA, and what an LCA really costs
38:00 - Selling sustainability: the commercial translation gap
REFERENCES
- OpenLCA, free life cycle assessment software: https://www.openlca.org
- Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/825 (applies from 27 September 2026)
- Pharmapack Europe: https://www.pharmapackeurope.com
- Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi): https://sciencebasedtargets.org
- Lucas's podcast, MedTech Sustainability by Design: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2389989
LINKS
- Lucas R. Pianegonda on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucas-r-pianegonda-81142b110/
- Gradical: https://gradical.ch
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
- Episode 096 - Recycling pharmaceutical transport packaging, with Arne Kloke (SCHOTT Pharma)
- Episode 097 - Visualizing Circular Healthcare: A Taxonomy for Sustainable Medical Device Flows, with Tamara Hoveling (TU Delft)
HOSTED BY
- Joachim Almdal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joachim-espeland-almdal-017a6973/
- Frederik van Deurs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederikvandeurs/
- Care Pathway Consulting: https://carepathwayconsulting.com
"Sustainability can't be a strategic advantage if you can't sell the device." - Lucas Pianegonda

What if the plastic waste from a hospital's clinical areas could come back as the ID card holders every nurse and doctor wears every day? That is what SMALLrevolution is doing, and it is one of the more elegant circular economy stories I have come across in healthcare. About the guest: Arendse Ekegren Baggesen is the Founder of SMALLrevolution, a Danish design-to-manufacturing company that collects plastic waste from hospitals, municipalities, and companies, transforms it into recycled raw material, and produces furniture and functional products that go back to the original waste producer. Three key takeaways:
According to Arendse, only 8-10% of plastic collected in Denmark is actually recycled. Sorting quality in the waste stream, not collection, is the primary bottleneck.
SMALLrevolution's closed-loop model: they collect a facility's waste, produce products from it, and return those products to the same facility, along with full LCA and ESG data.
According to Arendse, producing one kilo of virgin plastic requires two kilos of crude oil. Redirecting to recycled material reduces both CO2 emissions (around 30% vs. virgin plastic, based on SMALLrevolution's own LCAs) and crude oil demand.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction and origins of SMALLrevolution
02:00 - Why recycled plastic for outdoor furniture?
05:00 - Finding the first factory willing to work with household plastic waste
07:00 - How COVID pivoted SMALLrevolution from B2C to B2B
08:00 - The closed-loop model: collect, produce, return
09:00 - LCAs and ESG data on every product
10:00 - What actually happens to plastic in the "normal" waste stream?
12:00 - Why sorting quality, not collection, is the real bottleneck
14:00 - How hospitals can get started: two live case studies
18:00 - The "not another bucket" problem in surgical theatres
21:00 - CO2 impact: around 30% reduction vs. virgin plastic (based on SMALLrevolution's own LCAs)
23:00 - According to Arendse: 2 kg of crude oil per 1 kg of plastic, and what that means for resource resilience
Pull quote: "All vases in the world should be produced in a recycled material. There is demand, and there is a lot of waste, so why not connect those two dots?" Contact Arendse:
Website: smallrevolution.dk
LinkedIn: Arendse Ekegren Baggesen You might also enjoy:
Episode 088: Circular Material Flow of Medication in the Intensive Care Unit (Nicole Hunfeld, Erasmus UMC)
Episode 074: The Future of Reprocessing in Healthcare (Lars Thording, Innovative Health)
Episode 096: Recycling Pharmaceutical Transport Packaging (Arne Kloke, SCHOTT Pharma)

What happens when a doctor applies the rigour of clinical research to the carbon footprint of surgery?

In this episode, Frederik speaks with Anna Roe Rasmussen, MD, MSc Health Policy — a scientific researcher at the Regional Unit for the Green Transition in Region Zealand.

Anna recently defended her PhD at the University of Copenhagen and the Technical University of Denmark, where she applied lifecycle assessment (LCA) to total hip replacement surgery, working towards the integration of environmental impact into clinical decision-making.

About Anna:
Anna has spent over a decade at the intersection of climate and health — as a co-founder of Doctors for Climate Denmark (Læger for Klimaet), as part of the working group that drafted the Danish Medical Association's climate and health policy (published 2022), and as a scientific researcher applying LCA methodology to surgical care pathways.

Three things you'll take away:
Why the field needs to distinguish more clearly between carbon footprint screenings and full ISO-compliant LCAs — and what gets lost when clinicians can't tell the difference.
Why specialty-level carbon literacy is the missing link between organisational sustainability targets and meaningful action on the ground in clinical departments.
Why acting — finding someone to act with — is Anna's personal antidote to climate anxiety.
Timestamps:
00:00 — Introduction
03:00 — Anna's PhD: applying LCA to total hip replacement surgery
08:00 — From medical student at COP to co-founding Doctors for Climate Denmark
10:00 — The Danish Medical Association's 2022 climate and health policy
13:00 — A passionate but fragmented global movement of healthcare workers
17:00 — The publication explosion in healthcare LCA — and why quality must keep pace
21:00 — Carbon screening vs. ISO-compliant LCA: the precision vs. direction trade-off
27:00 — Specialty-level carbon literacy as the next step for healthcare decarbonisation
33:00 — Carbon budgets and financial budgets: an uncomfortable but necessary analogy
38:00 — The hard conversations healthcare systems avoid
41:00 — What makes Anna hopeful: engaged colleagues and the power of acting together
References and links mentioned:
ISO 14040/14044 standards for lifecycle assessment (see iso.org)
DTU Centre for Absolute Sustainability
Doctors for Climate Denmark / Læger for Klimaet — Facebook [Joachim/Frederik: add official website if available]
Danish Medical Association climate and health policy 2022 [Frederik: add direct link]
International Federation of Medical Students' Associations: ifmsa.org
Guest links:
Anna Roe Rasmussen on LinkedIn
Sjællands Universitetshospital
DTU Centre for Absolute Sustainability
You might also enjoy:
Episode 097: Visualising Circular Healthcare — Tamara Hoveling (TU Delft) on LCA methodology in healthcare
Episode 101: Sustainable Healthcare: Implementation and Hope — Maria Gaden
Episode 088: Circular Material Flow in the ICU — Nicole Hunfeld (Erasmus UMC)
[Episode Spotify/platform links to be added by Frederik] Hosts:
Joachim Almdal on LinkedIn
Frederik van Deurs on LinkedIn
Care Pathway Consulting
Pull quote: "If you want to do something — act. And find someone to do it with. That's always both more fun and more productive." — Anna Roe Rasmussen

The first episode of our Sustainable Clinical Trials mini-series, produced in partnership with the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition (SHC), following up on the Community of Practice conference in London on 4 November 2025. Each episode brings one of the CoP speakers back to share their story in long form.
 
GUEST
Christian Hieronimi, Founder & CEO of ONCARE (myoncare) and co-founder of Convien. A serial healthcare entrepreneur based in Munich, with previous exits to Elekta (Medical Intelligence) and Varian (humediq).
 
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
How Convien's meeting-point optimiser can cut around 30 to 35% of travel cost and 40% of the CO2 footprint of investigator meetings, by jointly optimising ticket price, travel time and carbon per kilogram.
Why roughly half of corporate travel spend in international organisations is driven by meetings, not customer visits, and why that makes meetings the biggest under-addressed decarbonisation lever in clinical operations.
How myoncare uses wearable data, symptom questionnaires and guideline-based thresholds to "fill the void" between doctor visits, and how the same platform can decentralise a trial by routing blood work, imaging and eligibility checks to local providers.
 
TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Introduction by Nathalie Preiswerk (Sustainable Healthcare Coalition) and series framing
02:00 Meet Christian: serial founder, robotics and oncology background
03:30 Convien origin story: Beijing vs. Barcelona, 2010
06:00 The three-variable optimisation: cost, time, carbon
10:00 How big is the meetings prize inside corporate travel
11:00 Applying Convien to investigator meetings and site selection
13:00 Introducing myoncare: a care orchestration platform
16:00 A chronic kidney disease use case, end to end
20:00 Decentralised trials: bringing the site to the patient
22:00 Bring-your-own-device and the International Patient Summary
25:00 Care pathways that trigger the next step automatically
 
REFERENCES MENTIONED
Sustainable Healthcare Coalition Community of Practice conference (London, 4 Nov 2025): https://shcoalition.org/cop-conference/
SHC Sustainable Clinical Trials Knowledge Hub: https://shcoalition.org/sustainable-clinical-trials-knowledge-hub/
Convien Smart Meeting Location Planner: https://www.convien.com/
myoncare Virtual coordinated care: https://www.myoncare.com/
Convien Meeting Point Optimiser (Siemens partnership, Microsoft AppSource): https://marketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/product/office/wa200001588
EU MDR 2017/745 (myoncare is classified as MDR Class IIa)
International Patient Summary (ISO 27269)
 
CONNECT WITH THE GUEST
Christian Hieronimi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-hieronimi-066a394/
ONCARE / myoncare: https://www.myoncare.com/
Convien GmbH: https://www.convien.com/
 
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
091 SHC: the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition (Fiona Adshead, Keith Moore, Nathalie Preiswerk), the backstory to this mini-series.
089 Koen Kas on transforming healthcare and clinical trials, another conversation on reimagining the trial operating model.
083 Sustainability requirements in public procurement, relevant if you are thinking about where the buy-side pressure lands.
 
HOSTS
Joachim Almdal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joachim-espeland-almdal-017a6973/
Frederik van Deurs on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frederikvandeurs/
Care Pathway Consulting: https://carepathwayconsulting.com
 
PULL QUOTE
"In between two doctor's visits, nobody looks after the patient, because the patient's pretty much invisible. We are filling up that void." Christian Hieronimi
 
Produced in partnership with the Sustainable Healthcare Coalition.