The environmental impact of the Dutch health-care sector beyond climate change: an input-output analysis.

Background: Studies suggest that the Dutch health-care sector is responsible for 4-8% of the national carbon footprint, but the environmental footprint of this sector beyond climate change is not well understood. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the environmental footprint of the Dutch health-care sector for a range of environmental impact categories.

Methods: In this input-output analysis, we used Exiobase (version 3), which contains data on global trade flows and their associated environmental impact, in combination with health-care expenditure data from Statistics Netherlands.

Improved science-based transformation pathways for the development of safe and sustainable plastics.

Projected plastic production volumes are rising, as is societal and political attention to plastic pollution and possible health impacts. In line with ambitions for climate mitigation and the circular economy, various national and international policies and action plans address the reduction of impacts of plastics. Quantitative scenario analyses show that even if current ambitious targets to reduce plastics are achieved, plastics will remain a source of millions of tons of environmental pollution annually.

Risk management of hazardous substances in a circular economy.

The ambitions for a circular economy are high and unambiguous, but day-to-day experience shows that the transition still has many difficulties to overcome. One of the current hurdles is the presence of hazardous substances in waste streams that enter or re-enter into the environment or the technosphere. The key question is: do we have the appropriate risk management tools to control any risks that might arise from the re-using and recycling of materials? We present some recent cases that illustrate current practice and complexity in the risk management of newly-formed circular economy chains.