Medical Design Briefs - May 2021 - 8

Bioplastics

To fully characterize a material, depending on the end use, a researcher may need to perform tensile, compression, flexure, torsion, and a myriad of other test types. (Credit: Instron)

Bioplastic
2

Dissolution
(lactic acid, ethanol, ete)
3

Chemical compound
(resin, polyethylene, ete)

1

Plants-based material
(cellulose collagen casein polyester, starch)

Cassava

Legumes

4

Oil is not used as
raw material

Forming process
(plastic injection molding)

Corn

Sugarcane
Decomposition process
(uv sunlight, heat, oxygen)

Day 80

Day 58

Day 38

Day 28

Day 1

Fig. 1 - Biodegradable materials, and specifically plastics, are typically produced using more environmentally friendly means compared with traditional plastics, ensuring that the entire product life cycle
has a significantly smaller carbon footprint.

8

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Cov

ToC

undergoes a time-consuming and costly
sterilization procedure, despite still resulting in frequent HAIs. Despite conventional knowledge suggesting that
reusable products would be more expensive over time, the cost of the sterilization
procedure coupled with the additional
costs associated with extended hospital
visits offsets the bulk of the expense.
While the move toward disposable
medical products has helped to partially curb the spread of HAIs, it has exacerbated another issue - the mounting
environmental concerns over healthcare waste. Hospitals are one of the
largest producers of waste, much of
which needs to go through complex
processing to neutralize toxic or infectious byproducts. WHO estimates that
in high-income countries, approximately 0.5 kg of waste is produced per hospital bed per day.3 As a result of national
and international guidelines, many
healthcare facilities are putting heavy
emphasis on reducing their carbon
footprints, highlighting the importance
of reevaluating their waste management systems and recycling programs.
Waste that can be categorized as nontoxic represents the largest opportunity
for a potential solution.
Faced with these two obstacles - a
need for single-use disposables and a
simultaneous waste management crisis
- the healthcare industry is being
forced to innovate. Using new materials
and processes can help reduce the environmental impact of hospitals while still
driving down the rate of HAIs. The use
of biodegradable materials is emerging
as a clear path forward, providing a
viable alternative for traditional materials like plastics and textiles. Biodegradable materials, and specifically plastics, are typically produced using more
environmentally friendly means compared with traditional plastics, ensuring
that the entire product life cycle has a
significantly smaller carbon footprint
(see Figure 1). Companies around the
globe are innovating to develop novel
materials to address the issue, engineering materials from corn, algae, mushrooms, and a whole host of other natural
sources. To expedite this shift, material
testing is essential for validating the performance of these new materials and
ensuring that their specifications are
comparable to existing materials.
The development of bioplastics has
become a burgeoning industry with a
strong market need, especially in the
Medical Design Briefs, May 2021
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Medical Design Briefs - May 2021

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