Single-use auto-injectors have been around for more than 40 years, serving as a safe and comfortable way of self-injecting drugs through the intramuscular route. But, as much as their design has improved the injection experience, their existence poses a threat to the environment.
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Single-use auto-injectors have been around for more than 40 years, serving as a safe and comfortable way of self-injecting drugs through the intramuscular route. But, as much as their design has improved the injection experience, their existence poses a threat to the environment. Like many other single-use medical devices, their production and disposal generate a great amount of waste and carbon emissions (Benedettini, 2022). This Master Thesis represents the joint effort of both Alliance to Zero and Delft University of Technology to transition current single-use auto-injectors into a circular model. The approach involves exploring one of the Circular Economy strategies - Reprocessing - and adapting it to the life cycle of the YpsoMate 2.25 ml auto-injector. By proving if the YpsoMate 2.25 ml can be reprocessed, a possibility for reusing other single-use auto-injectors opens up.
