Circular economy

Circular economy is all about a framework that is restorative and regenerative by design and that can become a resource for something or someone else. The philosophy can seem challenging within healthcare and assistive devices as there is never a "standard solution" that fits all, but there are ways of managing the complexity.

Etac has worked with this question for several years and provides many solutions that replace the requirement for completely new products to meet individual needs through reuse of durable and modular platforms that easily can be individualized with accessories. But we can do more and during the years to come we strive to enable even more possibilities for reuse and remanufacturing of our products.

Enabling our customers to recirculate

By producing long lasting, high quality products that in many cases can be easily circulated without losing the product value, Etac enables customers to be more sustainable. Below are two example.

Etac Swift shower chairs and commodes
Vegro, one of the Netherlands’ largest rehab home care equipment providers, has been using Etac Swift for many years. Not only because it offers their customers a well-designed shower chair that can be adapted to suit a range of needs, but also because it is a highly durable product that withstands the rigours of daily use in the bathroom as well as cleaning procedures.

The shower chair’s high quality and durability typically enables Vegro to use and reuse Etac Swift around 5-10 times per year over 7-8 years. The recirculation lowers the lifecycle cost and creates long-term value. Vegro has tried and tested many alternatives to Etac Swift over the years but the owner René Kamerbeek states: “No competitor comes close to the Swift in terms of build quality and durability”.

Etac wheelchairs
When it comes to wheelchairs, both the prescribers and the users expect an individualized product. By creating durable and modular platforms with various accessories, Etac enables healthcare providers to offer various of individual configurations during several years from just one platform. Improved user experience, warehousing and environmental impact can thus go together.

Supporting our customers with recirculation

Healthcare providers constantly need to search for ways to optimize spend, e.g. by re-using products. However, the complexity of some products makes reconditioning a skilled job requiring a level of knowledge and expertise that is not always locally available.

Since 2008, Etac offers a reissue scheme in the United Kingdom to help recirculate paediatric products and prolong their lifetime. Through the reissue scheme, Etac uses proved product knowledge and high standards for sustainable service and reconditioning of customers’ used product stocks. With the support of an experienced technician, each product is individually serviced, configured and supplemented with the necessary replacement parts and accessories, before it is sent back to the customer and the end user.

The high standards Etac applies when reconditioning a product generate an equivalent end user experience as when receiving an entirely new correspondent product. The reissue scheme thus extends the product lifetime while providing comfort and security to both customers and end users, and optimising customers’ stock value.

Please contact your local sales office to learn more about how we can support you in your country.

Constantly striving to improve

Etac is continuously looking for new ways to contribute to a more circular economy. In 2019 for example, Etac joined CIRCit Nord’s research project. During the project, Etac has had several workshops together with scientists from the Danish Technical University to develop tools to enable circularity, to find new circular economy initiatives and to measure circular economy.