MedTech Sustainability by Design
MedTech Sustainability by Design is the podcast where the world's leading experts in medical device, sustainable plastics, eco-design, and regulatory compliance share their expertise. Each episode cuts through the complexity of plastic selection, regulatory changes, medical device engineering or sustainable plastics — so MedTech engineers and start-up teams can build devices that are good for the patient, good for the planet and profitable. Your host, Lucas Pianegonda, is a globally recognized expert for plastics in medical technology. As founder of Gradical, a consultancy dedicated to making MedTech more sustainable with plastics, Lucas has guided dozens of medical device, IVD and pharma companies through some of the field's most complex material challenges. He asks the questions your R&D team would ask and gets you the answers you actually need. Topics covered include: • Sustainable plastics and eco-design strategies for MedTech • Plastic selection for medical devices, in-vitro diagnostics and combination products • Biocompatibility, sterilization and the medical grade concept • Regulatory requirements and changes across global markets • Recycling, medical waste, and the circular economy in healthcare Is your team struggling to make your Device or Packaging more sustainable? Schedule a call with Lucas: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical? Learn more about Gradical and its services at www.gradical.ch
Episodes
A special episode hosted by Swiss Medtech, with Barbara Mettler asking the questions. Prof. Dr. Martin Scheringer from ETH Zurich, toxicologist Arne Jaksch and Lucas Pianegonda work through what medtech companies should actually do about PFAS this year.
In this episode:
- Where PFAS sit beyond the product: process water, piping, cooling and cutting fluids, packaging, processing aids
- Why your supply chain will be interrupted before a...
From September 2026, the EU stops accepting green claims that nobody has verified. Self-certified labels are banned. Fines run up to 4% of annual revenue.
I talked to James Connelly, CEO of My Green Lab, the non-profit behind the ACT Ecolabel, the first third-party verified eco-label for laboratory products. Over 5,300 labs in 62 countries have engaged with My Green Lab certification, including 42 of the 50 largest biotech and pharm...
European hospitals are already scoring sustainability in tenders. Joachim Almdal from Care Pathway Consulting explains why the device is only 10 to 15% of the emissions across a care pathway, and why that changes what you optimise and who you have to convince.
In this episode:
- What a care pathway is, and why looking at the device alone moves the problem around instead of solving it
- Why European healthcare providers cannot hit thei...
Why are most catheters still glued and heat-shrunk together by hand? Simone Maccagnan from Gimac International makes the case for microextrusion: single continuous parts, controlled molecular weight and crystallinity, and dynamic extrusion that changes stiffness along one tube.
In this episode:
- How microextrusion replaces multi-part catheter assemblies, and why that matters for validation, scrap and patient safety
- What dynamic ext...
What is the most sustainable catheter we could design from scratch today?
Damian Carr, founder of Eyedea MedTech Education and author of the Catheter R&D Handbook, joins me for a full case study. We break down how catheters are built today, why the process is still manual and fluoropolymer-heavy, and what a modern reel-to-reel line would look like.
We cover PFAS-free liners, UHMWPE, dynamic co-extrusion, same-polymer designs that...
Can bio-based plastic move past the nice story and scale in regulated MedTech?
Tim Wagler is Commercial Director EMEA for Braskem's I'm green bio-based portfolio, polyethylene made from sugarcane instead of fossil feedstock. Braskem just launched an I'm green bio-based medical grade.
In this episode:
- What "physical content" bio-based means and how it differs from mass balance
- Why fossil prices are spiking an...
How does a company with 120,000 colleagues and 500,000 products put a number on its carbon footprint and actually act on it?
Matthew Yamatin is Global Director Sustainability at Thermo Fisher Scientific. He built the corporate sustainability program from scratch after joining in 2022 and now runs it across eight business groups.
In this episode:
- The scalable method Thermo Fisher uses to calculate product carbon footprints across hal...
"Do not do ego-design." A professor told Bart Verleije that in school, and it shaped how he has built medical devices ever since.
Bart is Commercial Director at Voxdale, a Belgian design and engineering firm, with more than 1,400 projects over 19 years. He explains how a napkin sketch becomes a certified, manufacturable device, and where most MedTech projects go wrong before they reach a patient.
In this episode:
- His BURST framework...
Most sustainable plastics cost two to six times more than oil-based alternatives. That's why you don't see them everywhere. Alex Braun decided to fix that.
Alex is the Chairman of Pillar Ltd, an Israeli industrial R&D company with 26 years of experience building materials for the world's largest manufacturers. Out of that work came three startups: PlasticBack, which chemically recycles PVC at under 100 degrees Celsius. Snow Poly...
Over a billion autoinjectors are used every year. Almost all of them are single-use. Almost all of that plastic gets incinerated.
John Palmer-Felgate spent 30 years designing medical devices. At some point, he decided to actually fix the problem.
John is the Founder and CTO of Eco-Inject, a UK startup that has built a sustainable autoinjector from the ground up using 100% bio-based polymers, fewer components, and a completely rethoug...
A lot of MedTech companies treat CAPA as a compliance exercise. They open a record, close a record, and survive the audit. Georg Digel has spent his career watching what happens when that's the only goal… and it's not pretty.
Georg is the Founder and Owner of Elevate CAPA. He has spent years helping MedTech companies build CAPA systems that actually work: ones that identify real problems, trace them to their root cause, and p...
This episode is brought to you by Vanguard, a company specializing in remanufacturing single-use medical devices to as-good-as-new condition.
A device labeled "single-use" gets thrown away after one patient. That makes sense for a syringe. It makes a lot less sense for a cardiac catheter that costs thousands of euros.
Ulrike Marczak is the CEO of Vanguard, a company that has been remanufacturing complex single-use medical devices for...
Bastien Manuel recognized that sustainability was inevitable for most medical plastic manufacturers. At elmplastic, he proactively established his business with that future in mind.
He's Commercial Director at elm-plastic GmbH, a Germany-based, family-owned converter of plastic and manufacturer of pharmaceutical plastic devices. In 2025, they launched what they believe is the only commercially available bio-based plastic oral ...
This episode is brought to you by Synera Advisory.
Most MedTech founders treat FDA clearance like it's the finish line. Jordan Morrison has an entire bookshelf of cleared devices that can't sell to prove it isn't.
She's Founding Partner at Synera Advisory, a physician-backed advisory group supporting founders from concept through commercialization. In this episode, she explains why so many MedTech startups run out of road after clear...
This episode is brought to you by FKuR Kunststoff GmbH, a leading producer and distributor of bio-based and compostable plastics.
"Recycling is just an extension of linearity."
Patrick Zimmermann posts the same sentence on LinkedIn, and it always gets a reaction:
He's the Managing Director at FKuR Kunststoff GmbH, a company that's been working with bio-based and compostable plastics for decades. So when he says recycling doesn't...
If you want to make your medical devices more sustainable, let's talk—: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical
Most MedTech founders build the wrong device because they skip the steps that actually matter before the engineering starts.
Lisa Voronkova is CEO of OVA Solutions, an R&D shop that has developed over 200 medical devices from scratch, and author of Hardware Bible. In this episode, sh...
If you want to make your medical devices more sustainable, let's talk: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical
What if you could cut the time it takes to develop a medical device in half?
In this episode, I sit down with Prof. Dr. Christian Johner, founder of the Johner Institute and one of Europe's most recognized experts in medical device, regulatory affairs and software. He has spent decades helping ...
If you're a MedTech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk—BOOK A CALL HERE: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical
What if the plastic in your current medical device ends up restricted before your product reaches the end of life?
Julian Lotz, CEO and Co-Founder of BIOVOX, joins the podcast to talk about where material compliance is heading and what to do about...
This episode is sponsored by Sterilis Solutions: https://sterilissolutions.com
"How much is medical waste actually costing us?" is one of the questions hospitals are finally asking out loud.
The problem is, most facilities don't realize they're dealing with a 10-20% annual cost increase—plus safety risks and sustainability pressure that isn't going away.
In this episode, I speak with Andy Marshall, CEO of Sterilis Solutions, abo...
How Do You Know Your Medical Device Material Will Pass Biocompatibility Testing? with Marina Daineko
"Is this material going to be biocompatible?" is one of the most commonly asked questions in medical device development.
The problem is, there's no such thing as a biocompatible material.
In this episode, I speak with Marina Daineko, Biocompatibility Consultant at Intrinsic Medical Group, about how biological risk assessment actually works, what mistakes companies make early in development, and how to incorporate biocompatibility thi...
Popular Podcasts
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Listen to 'The Bobby Bones Show' by downloading the daily full replay.
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.