Propelling the shift toward the future of circular, safe and sustainable packaging and single use device ecoDesigned solutions through healthcare environments

Project Information

ENKORE

Grant agreement ID: 101166707

DOI

10.3030/101166707

EC signature date 18 December 2024

Start date 1 January 2025

End date 31 December 2028

Funded under

• Health

Total cost

€ 14 541 588,49

EU contribution

€ 7 742 500,00

Coordinated by

UNIVERSIDAD POLITECNICA DE MADRID
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - ENKORE (Propelling the shift toward the future of circular, safe and sustainable packaging and single use device ecoDesigned solutions through healthcare environments)

Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

ENKORE emerges at a pivotal moment for European healthcare, where most single use medical devices and packaging still follow a linear pathway (used once, classified as clinical waste and, in many cases, sent for incineration). While this ensures sterility and safety, it also generates significant emissions, wastes valuable resources and reinforces a resource intensive model. Strict regulatory and hygiene requirements have long constrained the use of greener materials or alternative end of life solutions, leaving healthcare with limited options beyond disposal.
In response, ENKORE was launched as a major European initiative to rethink how medical devices and packaging are designed, used and managed across their full lifecycle. ENKORE aims to accelerate the shift toward circular, safe and sustainable eco designed solutions, replacing linear waste flows with pathways that maintain patient safety while reducing environmental impact. To achieve this, ENKORE is developing a comprehensive ecoDesign framework grounded in Safe and Sustainable by Design principles and supported by harmonised catalogues of Key Enabling Materials (KEM) and Key End of Life Solutions (KES), linking innovative materials to viable alternatives to incineration such as improved sorting, sterilisation and advanced recycling processes. ENKORE also lays the foundations for digital tools (including early concepts for the Digital Product Passport and a Circularity Calculator) to better guide decisions across healthcare value chains. By working closely with hospitals, waste management actors and recyclers, and through five Reference Use Cases (RUCs) across real clinical and home care pathways, ENKORE ensures that all innovations are technically feasible, safe and operationally grounded. Together, these efforts position the project to drive a meaningful shift from dependency on incineration toward a future where healthcare products are conceived and managed within a safe, resilient and genuinely circular European healthcare system

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

During its first reporting period (RP1), ENKORE advanced in line with its Description of Action (DoA), completing Phase 1 (Conceptualisation) and entering Phase 2 (Modelling) with common ground and strong scientific, technical and organisational foundations. The consortium built coherent evidence base and a shared vision for safe, circular and sustainable packaging and single‑use devices in healthcare.
Key achievements include the delivery of the Research Strategy and the operationalisation of a Knowledge Warehouse integrating materials data, SSbD literature, EU policy landscapes, socio‑economic insights and circularity practices. ENKORE also defined the scientific basis for Key Enabling Materials and Key End‑of‑Life Sustainable Solutions, mapping lifecycle and circuit pathways across home and hospital settings. These efforts, supported by value‑chain mapping and the consolidation of five Reference Use Cases, ensure that modelling and later validation activities reflect real‑world practices, constraints and regulatory frameworks.
The project also strengthened its ecosystem positioning. WP6 deployed the full communication and dissemination infrastructure (website, Knowledge Hub, community channels, social media and conferences), embedding ENKORE in Europe’s circular healthcare landscape. WP7 ensured effective coordination, financial and administrative management, risk monitoring and robust ethics and data‑protection processes, fostering smooth collaboration across hospitals, industry, regulators and patient organisations.
As Phase 2 began, ENKORE initiated modelling activities based on Phase 1 outputs, including materials cataloguing, circuit pathways, RUC assessments, preliminary LCA/SLCA templates, decision‑making methodologies and early Digital Product Passport concepts. Preparations for implementation also progressed through RUC governance, hospital engagement, pre‑deployment assessments and early contacts with recyclers and industrial partners.
Overall, ENKORE closes its first year as a coordinated, evidence‑driven and operationally mature initiative, with all foundational elements in place for impactful progress in RP2, moving forward as one cohesive public‑private partnership.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

During RP1, ENKORE advanced beyond the current state of the art by establishing the foundations of an integrated, cross disciplinary approach to circularity in healthcare. Even at this early stage, the project introduced a unified methodological framework that connects eco design, circular economy principles and healthcare safety requirements in a coherent and operational way. Early development of the Safe and Sustainable by Design ecoDesign framework, together with the initial Key Enabling Materials (KEM) and Key End of Life Solutions (KES) catalogues, already moves past fragmented efforts that typically focus on materials, waste or safety in isolation.
ENKORE’s harmonisation of environmental, social, regulatory and technical criteria (supported by preliminary lifecycle indicators and decision making tools) creates an evidence base previously unavailable to designers of healthcare devices. The project also advances digital innovation through the preparation of the Digital Product Passport and digital traceability services, enabling transparent monitoring of materials, circularity metrics and compliance across value chains. Importantly, all progress is grounded in real hospital and home care pathways, ensuring that methods reflect actual clinical workflows and user behaviour. While full validation will take place in later phases, RP1 already demonstrates clear steps toward a systemic, scalable model for circular healthcare solutions that surpass current practices and set the foundation for future uptake, standardisation and regulatory alignment.