How can we find the right balance between maintaining high-quality healthcare and reducing PFAS pollution? That was the central question explored by a diverse group of experts from hospitals, healthcare product manufacturers, plastics producers, government bodies, NGOs, and research institutes, during a 2-day Living Lab workshop as part of the SOS-ZEROPOL2030 project.

There is growing societal pressure to move away from the use of PFAS, even though these materials play a crucial role in medical applications, such as clothing, catheters, implants and anaesthetic gases. Finding alternatives, however, is a complex challenge.

The Living Lab ‘Exploring Scenarios for PFAS Reduction in the Medical Sector´ was held from 25-26 March, in Utrecht, The Netherlands. It brought together 20 experts from various European countries and built on the findings of a previous Living Lab held in April 2024, which identified challenges and opportunities for reducing PFAS throughout the lifecycle of medical applications—from production to end-of-life.

Wouter-Jan Strietman, from Wageningen Social & Economic Research and regional lead for the North-East Atlantic region: “Through interactive group discussions, and valuable input by the experts, we were able to explore the complex and often multi-faceted challenges and trade-offs involved in managing and governing PFAS to reduce their use in medical applications.”

The discussions centred on scenarios to reduce the use of PFAS in the production chain of medical applications – from the production of the basic raw material to end-of-life. For each scenario, the experts focused on tackling challenges in management and governance, as well as exploring trade-offs and opportunities to minimise the use and emissions of PFAS within these product chains.

The resulting conclusions were both specific to the medical sector and also provided broader insights applicable to other industries where similar challenges arise across the product chain. The lessons learned from this session will be summarised in a report and help shape the Source to Seas- Zero Pollution 2030 project’s recommendations and guidance to the European Commission in support of ending pollution in European seas by 2030.

About Living Labs

SOS-ZEROPOL2030 focuses on four priority pollutants: nutrient inputs, contaminants, plastic litter, and underwater noise, alongside two case study pollutants: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and tyre wear particles (TWPs). It addresses these issues across three European Regional Seas: the Black Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, and the North-East Atlantic.

The first round of our Living Lab workshops, focusing on PFAS for the North-East Atlantic and the Black Sea and TWPs for the Mediterranean, was held in 2024 in the Netherlands, Bulgaria, and Greece respectively.

Read more on the issue of PFAS in the SOS-ZEROPOL 2030 StoryMap here and have a look at some of our project resources, such as reports, factsheets, and infographics under our Resources tab.