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 <p

MedTech Sustainability by Design is a science podcast hosted by Lucas Pianegonda, with 50 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Lucas Pianegonda hosts MedTech Sustainability by Design, a science show with 50 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  MedTech Sustainability by Design

  EmpCo, Green-Claims and the ACT Label with James Connelly of My Green Lab

  Sep 30, 202648 min

  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 pharma companies. In this episode: - How the ACT 2.0 label's 100-point score actually works, and why there is no on-site audit - What the Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive bans, and what "verifiable" means for your own claims - The line between a defensible CO2 claim and one that gets you in regulatory trouble - Why medical devices don't have an ACT-style label yet, and what would have to change first CONNECT WITH JAMES CONNELLY: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-connelly-55909024/ ABOUT THE PODCAST: MedTech Sustainability by Design is the show for people choosing better plastics in medical technology. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical Gradical: https://www.gradical.ch Do you enjoy this podcast? Then subscribe, rate it on your platform, and join the discussion on LinkedIn! Your feedback and comments help us improve the podcast and bring you relevant topics. Let’s form a better world with plastics! If you are a Medtech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk— BOOK A CALL HERE . You can also check our Youtube Channel with lots of free trainings and resources here: Lucas R. Pianegonda - YouTube Website: www.gradical.ch

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  MedTech Sustainability by Design

  Win Tenders With Sustainability (Joachim Almdal, Care Pathway Consulting)

  Aug 26, 202648 min

  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 their 2035 and 2045 targets without pushing requirements onto suppliers - Where you can charge a green premium, where sustainability is only a tiebreaker, and why segmentation decides which one you are in - Why your salespeople will dodge the sustainability question unless you train them, and what that costs you in tenders CONNECT WITH JOACHIM: LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/joachim-espeland-almdal-017a6973/ | Care Pathway Consulting https://carepathwayconsulting.com | Sustainable Healthcare Podcast, on Spotify and Apple ABOUT THE PODCAST: MedTech Sustainability by Design is the show for people choosing better plastics in medical technology. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical . Gradical: https://www.gradical.ch Do you enjoy this podcast? Then subscribe, rate it on your platform, and join the discussion on LinkedIn! Your feedback and comments help us improve the podcast and bring you relevant topics. Let’s form a better world with plastics! If you are a Medtech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk— BOOK A CALL HERE . You can also check our Youtube Channel with lots of free trainings and resources here: Lucas R. Pianegonda - YouTube Website: www.gradical.ch

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  MedTech Sustainability by Design

  Microextrusion: Better Catheters With Less Waste with Simone Maccagnan, Gimac

  Aug 12, 202657 min

  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 extrusion is, and where the physics gets hard - How inline measurement cuts revalidation and total cost - An honest take on fluoropolymers, PFAS and where automation helps This episode was sponsored by Gimac. GET IN TOUCH WITH GIMAC: https://www.gimac.com ABOUT THE PODCAST: MedTech Sustainability by Design is the show for people choosing better plastics in medical technology. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical . Gradical: https://www.gradical.ch Do you enjoy this podcast? Then subscribe, rate it on your platform, and join the discussion on LinkedIn! Your feedback and comments help us improve the podcast and bring you relevant topics. Let’s form a better world with plastics! If you are a Medtech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk— BOOK A CALL HERE . You can also check our Youtube Channel with lots of free trainings and resources here: Lucas R. Pianegonda - YouTube Website: www.gradical.ch

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  Episode #47

  Sustainable Catheter Case-Study with Damian Carr

  Jul 29, 202656 minS1

  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 be recycled, and the cost reality: 20 to 25% of today's cost at five times the output once the line runs. Damian is clear that there is no one-to-one replacement for fluoropolymers, so the job is to match the property the application actually needs. We also talk about the human side. The "point of no return" in the operating room, and why engineers need to sit with surgeons before they design the next device. This episode is sponsored by Masterflex Group. Masterflex | Schlauchhersteller | Schläuche und Verbindungen Do you enjoy this podcast? Then subscribe, rate it on your platform, and join the discussion on LinkedIn! Your feedback and comments help us improve the podcast and bring you relevant topics. Let’s form a better world with plastics! If you are a Medtech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk— BOOK A CALL HERE . You can also check our Youtube Channel with lots of free trainings and resources here: Lucas R. Pianegonda - YouTube Website: www.gradical.ch

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  Episode #46

  How to Save 4.5 kg of CO2 per kg of Plastic | Tim Wagler, Braskem

  Jul 8, 202656 minS1

  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 and bio-based is no longer the expensive option - The supply and land-use question, and why sugarcane uses 0.03% of Brazil's land today - Why bio-based is not biodegradable, and the claims you can actually make - Where a drop-in bio-based polyethylene fits in medical and pharma CONNECT WITH TIM Tim Wagler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-wagler-891436a4/ Braskem I'm green: https://www.braskem.com/imgreen/landingpage ABOUT THE PODCAST MedTech Sustainability by Design is the Gradical podcast on choosing better plastics and building better medical devices. Book a free consultation: https://calendly.com/lucas-pianegonda-gradical/discovery-call-gradical Gradical: https://www.gradical.ch Do you enjoy this podcast? Then subscribe, rate it on your platform, and join the discussion on LinkedIn! Your feedback and comments help us improve the podcast and bring you relevant topics. Let’s form a better world with plastics! If you are a Medtech company struggling to make your devices more sustainable, let’s talk— BOOK A CALL HERE . You can also check our Youtube Channel with lots of free trainings and resources here: Lucas R. Pianegonda - YouTube Website: www.gradical.ch

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