ENKORE presented Reference Use Case 5 at CleanMed Europe 2026

ENKORE was pleased to participate in CleanMed Europe 2026, contributing to the Sustainability Solutions session through the presentation of Reference Use Case 5 (RUC5).

The session featured Sharon Connor, Global Director of Environmental Sustainability for Johnson & Johnson MedTech Surgery, who presented ENKORE’s work on improving the end-of-life management of single-use devices used in hospital surgical settings.

Her presentation focused on one of the project’s key objectives: supporting more circular approaches for healthcare by reducing the amount of healthcare-related materials sent to landfill or incineration while increasing the recovery of valuable raw materials.

Healthcare systems rely on safe, high-performing medical technologies, but they also face growing pressure to reduce their environmental impact. Single-use devices and their associated packaging remain an important challenge due to the complexity of collection, sorting, recycling and regulatory requirements.

Within ENKORE, Reference Use Case 5 brings together partners from across the healthcare value chain to explore practical solutions for improving the circularity of these products. Led by Johnson & Johnson MedTech and Medtronic, and supported by partners including UPM, Leiden University, ISWA and WEF, the use case aims to generate evidence and recommendations that can support wider adoption of circular practices across European healthcare systems.

CleanMed Europe provided an excellent opportunity to share ENKORE’s approach with healthcare professionals, researchers, policymakers and industry representatives committed to advancing sustainable healthcare. The discussions reinforced the importance of collaboration across the entire value chain to accelerate the transition towards more circular healthcare systems.

ENKORE continues to work towards its broader mission of developing circular, safe and sustainable packaging and single-use device ecodesigned solutions for healthcare environments.

This project is supported by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking under grant agreement No. 101166707. The Joint Undertaking receives support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme and COCIR, EFPIA, EuropaBio, MedTech Europe and Vaccines Europe.