Ecodialysis: is it possible an eco-friendly system?

In medicine, attention to the environmental impact is still limited. Most of the analyses so far performed regard the last part of the cycle, the “grave of waste products”. Chronic Hemodialysis produces about 600,000 tons of plastic waste per year. The economic crisis and the awareness of damage to the ecosystem progressively induced to focus attention on the lifespan of disposable, “from cradle to grave”. A new outlook is presently focussed on recycle, that is the subsequent start of new cycles leading to a “from cradle to cradle” model: allowing a “new life” for the waste products, despite the need for initial investment. Aim of the present study is an analysis of the characteristics of the disposables employed in chronic hemodialysis, as a tool for identifying strategies limiting the environmental impact and containing the costs.