The Circularity Index MedTech 2026: What Separates Leaders from Laggards
Our new research reveals stark disparities in circular economy ambition across 20 global MedTech giants. Here’s what separates the pioneers from the laggards.
The medical technology industry faces a paradox. It’s one of the most heavily regulated sectors worldwide, designed to protect patients and employees from harm. Yet the same regulations that ensure safety have locked the industry into a linear “take-make-dispose” model that’s increasingly at odds with global sustainability imperatives.
Our new research, the Circularity Index MedTech 2026, reveals just how wide the gap has become between ambition and implementation. And for R&D leaders and sustainability executives, the findings should serve as both a wake-up call and a roadmap.
The bottom line: A few pioneers are proving that circular business models work, even under strict regulatory conditions. The rest of the industry is running out of time to catch up.
What Is the Circularity Index?
The Circularity Index is INDEED Innovation’s proprietary benchmarking framework that systematically evaluates how companies are progressing toward a circular economy.
For the MedTech edition, we analyzed the sustainability reports and annual publications of 20 of the world’s largest medical technology companies, using AI-supported semantic analysis across 42 criteria in five categories:
| Category | Focus Area |
|---|---|
| Energy & Water Use | Resource consumption, renewable energy adoption, water management |
| Material Use | Virgin vs. recycled materials, sustainable sourcing practices |
| Design for Circularity | Product design enabling reuse, repair, and recycling |
| Value Retention | Implementation of 10R strategies from Refuse to Recover |
| Industry Transformation | Collaboration, policy engagement, ecosystem building |
Scores are weighted according to the 10R hierarchy, a framework that prioritizes prevention and value retention over end-of-pipe recycling. This means companies earn more points for refurbishment and remanufacturing programs than for recycling initiatives alone.
The methodology aligns with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) and frameworks from the WBCSD Circular Transition Indicators, ensuring our findings translate directly to regulatory compliance requirements.
The Headline Numbers
The results paint a picture of an industry in transition, but moving at vastly different speeds.
Philips leads the pack with 66.6 points out of a possible 102.6, demonstrating comprehensive commitment across all categories. Siemens Healthineers follows at 54.8 points, with Medtronic (54.7), Stryker (53.4), and Essity Medical Solutions (52.8) rounding out the top five.
At the other end of the spectrum, companies like Drägerwerk (15 points), STERIS (17.2), and Fresenius Medical Care (22.8) show significantly lower circular economy ambition in their public reporting.
The critical finding: Strategic focus patterns differ markedly by product type.
- Durable goods manufacturers (imaging systems, surgical equipment, laboratory instruments) possess greater circular economy opportunities through refurbishment, remanufacturing, and life extension.
- Consumables-focused manufacturers face structural constraints limiting circularity primarily to material substitution and end-of-life recycling.
But here’s what’s striking: These gaps cannot be explained by product portfolio alone. Only 20% of analyzed companies focus primarily on consumables, yet the majority lag behind on strategies that could apply to their businesses.
Key Finding #1: End-of-Pipe Dominates, Prevention Lags
95% of companies communicate recycling targets. That sounds impressive until you dig into the numbers:
The takeaway for R&D leaders: If your circular strategy starts at the recycling bin, you’re leaving value on the table.
- Only 55% define these targets quantitatively
- Just 10% have actually achieved their recycling goals
- Meanwhile, only 35% publish Refuse strategies (eliminating unnecessary products or materials)
- Only 60% communicate Rethink approaches (new business models, shared use)
This reveals a fundamental misalignment. The industry is focused on waste management rather than waste prevention even though recovered material value from recycling often remains below 50%, and for plastics sometimes around 10%.
In contrast, reuse and refurbishment retain substantial original product value and allow resale prices close to new products.
Key Finding #2: Life Extension Is a Proven Revenue Engine, Yet Massively Underutilized
Over half of the companies we analyzed publish neither:
- Refurbishment targets (55% have none)
- Remanufacturing targets (65% have none)
- Repair targets (50% have none)
This represents an enormous missed opportunity.
The proof? Look at the leaders.
GE HealthCare’s GoldSeal Program (running for 25+ years):
- 8,050 units taken back in 2024
- 7.8 million kg of material reused
- 94% reuse rate
- Supported by a dedicated Circularity Innovation Lab
Philips’ System-Level Circularity:
- 100,000 recirculated spare parts per year
- Over 8,600 refurbished systems annually
- Program expansion since 2025 to include smaller devices
- 24.4% circular revenues in 2024 — up from near-zero a decade ago
Siemens Healthineers’ Parts Reuse Excellence Program:
- 435,000+ components recovered in 2024
- 69% repaired and reused, extending material life cycles
- 27% reduction in single-use packaging (2022–2024)
Key Finding #3: Design for Circularity Is the Critical Bottleneck
The design phase determines 80% of a product’s environmental impact. Yet paradoxically, it receives disproportionately limited attention in published circularity strategies.
Our analysis found:
“Organisations rarely anticipate impacts of products beyond a short and limited use phase, and seek to tackle waste where it becomes most visible: downstream. We need to move from making tweaks at surface level to redesigning systems.”
— Ellen MacArthur Foundation
- Only 10% of companies have no redesign targets at all
- But 55% include circular design only as a “stated intention” without concrete metrics
- Just 25% set quantitative goals for their product portfolio
- Only 10% have achieved these goals
Philips again leads: 100% of new product launches are Eco Design-compliant, backed by €263 million in Green Innovation Investments in 2024.
Without circularity embedded at the design stage, downstream efforts in recycling, refurbishment, and remanufacturing become structurally constrained. You cannot “recycle in” modularity, repairability, or material separability after the fact.
Three Action Areas for MedTech Leaders
Based on our analysis, here’s where companies should focus:
1. Circular Strategy as the Foundation
For any new product development, companies must define which R-strategies to prioritize. Once set, the entire organization gains clarity on objectives and activities.
Why this matters now: In MedTech, new products take up to 10 years to reach market. The strategy decisions you make today determine your circularity performance in 2035.
2. KPI Frameworks That Drive R&D
Once the strategic direction is defined, a clear KPI framework becomes the starting point for product specifications. This ensures circular business levers directly influence design decisions, not as an afterthought, but as a core requirement.
The gap: Only 1 in 20 MedTech companies reports circular revenue. Most lack the metrics to capture circular value at all.
3. Eco Design Guidance as Operating Standard
When priorities and metrics are clear, they must be translated into concrete activities — formalized into a binding Eco Design Guideline for the organization.
This is where the 80% impact happens. Without it, circularity remains theoretical.
How INDEED Innovation Helps
Eco Design Innovation Sprint
Turn today’s products into tomorrow’s circular engines. We identify strong Eco Design levers through design for modularity, repair, reuse, and recertification.
Deliverables: Opportunity model, lifecycle map, design principles, and execution-ready blueprint.
Circular Portfolio Monetization Blueprint
Uncover multi-million-dollar circular value hidden across your entire product and service portfolio.
Deliverables: Value model, system map, monetization roadmap, and execution-ready blueprint.
Circular Opportunity & Risk Mitigation Framework
Reduce regulatory, carbon, supply-chain, and market risk while unlocking circular growth.
Deliverables: Risk scan, trend map, system review, and execution-ready mitigation blueprint.
The Question Is No Longer If, But Who
The transformation toward circular economy in medical technology is not a question of whether, but when and who.
Companies that substantiate their ambitions with concrete, measurable targets gain a decisive advantage: they can publicly demonstrate their leadership. This increasingly becomes a competitive differentiator — in customer meetings, public tenders, and in the perception of end users.
The pioneers profiled in this research, Philips, GE HealthCare, Siemens Healthineers, Essity, started laying the groundwork over a decade ago. Their results today prove that circular business models are feasible and economically relevant even under the strictest regulatory conditions.
For the rest of the industry, the window to catch up is narrowing.
Larissa Scherrer
Marketing Strategy
Brand Positioning
Social Media Strategy
