This might have been the perfect opportunity for Health Canada to finally put a regulatory stake in the ground and define the rules for the safe reuse of (non-sharps) medical devices, with or without refurbishment and/or other reprocessing. After all, Health Canada’s Action Plan on Medical Devices defined its mandate as “continuously improving safety, effectiveness and quality” of medical devices, all of which are directly relevant to the burgeoning market for used medical devices. Presumably…
The recent announcement of the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment sponsored by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment (the “Global Commitment”) may have gone unnoticed. After all, the Global Commitment joins the increasingly crowded field of multilateral plastic waste accords, such as the G7 Plastics Charter, the EU strategy for plastics in a circular economy, the Commonwealth Blue Charter, and the UN Community of Ocean Action. But the Global Commitment is, in fact, a watershed…
Resource recovery through the operation of reverse supply chains requires substantial funding, at least while producers work to internalize and minimize those costs over time. Under government-run waste diversion schemes, those costs are borne by the consumer through payment of much maligned “eco fees”. The model used for charging and passing along eco fees among supply chain parties can have significant impacts upon long term circular economy strategies. Two models have been adopted in the…