Circular for Zero Environmental Strategy

This Action aligns with the following Calls to Action from the Circular Economy Action Agenda for Plastics

2. Incentivize and support product design for reuse and recycling of plastics 

3. Address hygiene and safety concerns to promote plastics reuse 

Ambition 

In response to the issues such as growing consumption, industrialisation and urbanisation which threaten both the environment and the health of people around the world, Novo Nordisk has adopted a new environmental strategy – Circular for Zero – the aspiration to have zero environmental impact. Through this strategy, among other goals, Novo Nordisk aims to find new ways to design products that can be recycled or re-used, reshape our business to minimise consumption and waste, and work with suppliers who share Novo Nordisk’s goals.  

Objectives

A key focus area in the Circular for Zero strategy is Circular Products. Novo Nordisk has developed a framework for circular product design that defines product circularity for devices and secondary packaging and sets direction towards zero environmental impact. Circularity is achieved through four levers that span the entire product flow: (1) Design for expected lifetime, (2) Design for sustainable materials, (3) Design for no waste in production, and (4) Design for recycling after use. 
 

CO2, resource consumption and waste are the key environmental challenges, and Novo Nordisk measures how well their products perform on circularity measured as the CO2 impact per patient per year, the share of sustainable plastic as well as the recyclability of the product at the end-of-life. All device development projects use these three indicators to guide decisions on how to make products more circular. 

Partners 

Novo Nordisk