ESCH-R

Creating circular hospitals together

Together, we aim to accelerate the adoption of circular interventions in hospitals and thereby lower the ecological footprint of healthcare.

ESCH-R is an interdisciplinary project funded by the Dutch Research Council as part of the Dutch Research Agenda to create a more sustainable healthcare sector. The acronym ESCH-R stands for ‘Evidence-based Strategies to create Circular Hospitals: Applying the 10-Rs framework to healthcare’.

ESCH-R

creating circular hospitals together

Together, we aim to accelerate the adoption of circular interventions in hospitals and thereby lower the ecological footprint of healthcare.

ESCH-R is a project funded by the Dutch Research Council as part of the Dutch Research Agenda to create a more sustainable healthcare sector. The acronym ESCH-R stands for ‘Evidence-based Strategies to create Circular Hospitals: Applying the 10-Rs framework to healthcare’.

About
ESCH-R

Societal & scientific impact

Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of circular interventions in hospitals and thereby lower the ecological footprint of the healthcare sector in terms of CO2 emission, material extraction and waste.

Therefore, our overarching research question is: “How can hospitals move away from single use medical consumables and make the transition towards circularity?”

The requirements to become circular are in accordance with the Green Deal Duurzame Zorg 3.0:

To be 100% circular in 2050
To be climate neutral in 2050

To answer this question, we will apply a systemic and transdisciplinary approach and collaborate throughout the whole hospital ecosystem (including hospitals, healthcare professional, patients, and suppliers). We will develop strategies (or so-called interventions) towards circular practices for the most impactful medical consumables used in three clinical departments based on scientific evidence.

We aim to remove current barriers, adopt (newly developed) interventions, and facilitate a behavioural change of healthcare professionals towards a circular way of working.

We enable industry to rethink and redesign medical consumables and their packaging based on the 10-Rs circularity framework and shift hospitals towards circularity. By developing educational materials and training programs we ensure circular healthcare becomes a habit in the thoughts and actions of the healthcare professionals of the future. Completion of our mission will result in 4 major impacts estimated to be achieved 6 years after completion of the project (2034).