In celebration of Earth Day, we highlight the impact of our Sustainable Technologies business
Many hospitals and health systems have committed to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 50% by 2030, and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement, which aims to slow climate change by cutting emissions and limiting global warming. They have a convincing reason to do so, as the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) reports that the healthcare sector is a significant contributor to climate change, accounting for 8.5% of U.S. emissions and 4.4% globally; single-use medical devices (SUDs) are a notable driver of those emissions.
A growing body of peer-reviewed research, as cited by NAM, supports single-use device reprocessing as a strategy for hospitals to help reduce costs, GHG emissions and solid waste and improve supply chain resiliency. Reprocessing — the process of cleaning, testing and disinfecting and/or sterilizing single-use medical devices, allowing them to be safely resold for patient use — creates unique opportunities for the healthcare supply chain.
Our Cardinal Health Sustainable Technologies business is a leading provider of SUD collections and reprocessing services in the U.S. In fiscal year 2025, we collected 21.6 million single-use devices and diverted 6.6 million pounds of waste from landfills, avoiding 1,900 metric tons of CO2e emissions.
In its most recent report, the Association of Medical Device Reprocessors (AMDR) shared that U.S. hospitals and surgical centers saved nearly half a trillion dollars through reprocessing in 2024, including more than $443 million in savings from lower-cost, reprocessed, single-use medical devices.
Cited in the same report, hospitals saved nearly $8 million from waste reduction in 2024; this includes more than 12 million pounds of medical waste diverted from landfills by using reprocessed single-use medical devices. By using reprocessed SUDs, hospitals and surgical centers helped to eliminate more than 115 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions — equivalent to eliminating close to 6 million gallons of gasoline, which is enough to fill 693 tanker trucks.
Overall, nearly 10,000 hospitals, surgical centers and U.S. military surgical hospitals (including all U.S. News & World Report “Top Hospitals”) benefitted by using reprocessed SUDs in 2024.
Enter Cardinal Health Sustainable Technologies™
“If your acute or ambulatory facility isn’t one of thousands benefitting from the use of reprocessed SUDs, I’d highly encourage you to consider the potential impact for your facility,” said Meg McClanahan, director of marketing, Sustainable Technologies. “By working with a reprocessor like us, we can help health systems reduce waste, cut greenhouse gas emissions, strengthen their supply chains and drive savings, all without affecting patient care or clinical workflows.”
And, while we are a leader in SUD reprocessing in the United States,1 the business is focused on global opportunities, as well. In fact, we are opening a new facility in Australia in 2026.
When it is fully operational in fiscal 2027, the Australia facility will focus on the remanufacturing of compression sleeves, using cleaning and disinfection processes to remove soil and contamination from single-use medical devices, which meet the requirements of the Australian Therapeutic Goods (Medical Device) Regulations of 2002. The reprocessed devices will undergo 100% functionality and quality testing, followed by high-level disinfection, and then will be returned to hospitals for use.
The facility represents a significant milestone for Cardinal Health’s Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) operations and the broader global strategy. It will serve as a critical hub for remanufacturing, enabling us to deliver sustainable solutions in response to growing customer demand.
For perspective, hospitals and surgical centers in 17 countries across North America, Australia and New Zealand, Asia and Europe saved more than $451M and reduced CO2 emissions by more than 115M lbs. by using regulated, reprocessed SUDs in 2024, according to AMDR.
“The United States has been a leader in single use device reprocessing for more than 20 years, providing a running start for our ANZ and Asia-Pacific operations,” said Neroli Manning, Managing Director, ANZ. “This global perspective helps validate our newest commitments in Australia.”
APAC expansion and market drivers
Expansion into the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, specifically Australia and New Zealand, is driven in part by growing concern about climate change and increasing reporting requirements.
Manning explained that health systems in Australia and New Zealand want a local remanufacturing (as it is termed in ANZ) solution, because transportation of products across oceans for reprocessing is counterproductive to their sustainability goals. The decision to invest in local remanufacturing is being driven by strong provider preferences to find local solutions to help reduce their carbon footprint.
Cardinal Health customers in Australia and New Zealand can benefit from our years of experience and deep product and process knowledge, along with data to support the environmental impact of their remanufactured products. For example, a life cycle assessment found that the overall environmental footprint of a reprocessed compression sleeve device was, on average, 43% lower than that of a single-use device.
Supporting regional sustainability goals
Australia and New Zealand healthcare providers new to the reprocessing/remanufacturing journey have the option to serve as “donor sites” for our Sustainable Technologies business – meaning they can opt in to our program through our onsite device collections services only (without purchasing remanufactured product). This allows facilities to still participate in regional goals for waste diversion from landfills while potentially helping reduce CO2 emissions.
Manning identified the two sustainability goals she most frequently hears from regional customers:
She noted that currently environmental concerns, more than cost savings, are the primary drivers of interest in SUD reprocessing/remanufacturing in the ANZ region, offering our team an opportunity to help drive environmental impact on a global scale.
“Our new facility is the first of its kind outside the United States for Cardinal Health, representing a great privilege and enormous responsibility to lead the way for Sustainable Technologies,” she said. “We look forward to expanding our capabilities to help meet the growing global demand for remanufacturing, while supporting our customers’ sustainability goals and positive patient outcomes.”
1 Cardinal Health data on file, 2024.