Healthcare supply chains have always had to balance competing priorities: maintaining product integrity, managing cost and ensuring medicines reach the patients who need them. Today, resource efficiency and environmental impact are becoming part of that equation too.

Circular supply chains offer a different way of thinking about those challenges. Instead of following a linear model where resources are used and eventually discarded, circularity considers how products, materials and assets can remain in use for longer, how waste can be designed out and how value can be retained across the supply chain.

That brings sustainability much closer to procurement decisions around resilience, efficiency and long-term value.

“The circular mindset is all about design,” said Paula Pulsoni, Vice President of Service Development and Innovation at World Courier and global sponsor for the company's sustainability initiatives. “It's not about asking how we recycle the outputs of our distribution. It's about going back several steps and redesigning the system, so waste isn't created in the first place.”

That thinking closely reflects the principles established by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which defines the circular economy around three core ideas: eliminating waste and pollution through design, circulating products and materials at their highest value, and regenerating natural systems.²

Within healthcare logistics, packaging provides one of the clearest examples of how those principles can influence procurement decisions.

Packaging is becoming a strategic procurement decision

New regulations, sustainability expectations and pressure to demonstrate long-term value are changing how procurement teams evaluate packaging.

Rather than considering unit cost or recyclability alone, organizations are beginning to assess packaging through a broader lens, considering supplier capabilities, reverse logistics, asset recovery, data visibility and total cost of ownership.

The regulatory backdrop is accelerating that change. According to the European Commission, the EU generated 186.5 kg of packaging waste per person in 2022, while around 40% of all plastics used across the EU are used in packaging. At the same time, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) is introducing new requirements that will influence how packaging is designed, managed and recovered throughout its lifecycle.¹

The direction extends beyond Europe. World Health Organization (WHO) guidance on decarbonizing healthcare supply chains calls for health systems to address emissions through the way goods and services are selected, procured and used, placing sustainable procurement and lower-carbon supply chains firmly on the global healthcare agenda.⁴

Together, these developments point to greater alignment between regulation, healthcare policy and sustainability expectations, placing procurement at the center of how organizations respond. 

“Regulatory pressure is always the one that mobilizes the most,” Paula explained. “Good ideas and sustainability goals continue to evolve, but when organizations see a regulatory deadline, that's when adoption accelerates.”

In practical terms, choosing a packaging supplier, for example, is only one part of the procurement decision. Procurement teams also need to ask broader strategic questions, including:

• How long can packaging remain in use?
• What happens once the packaging reaches the end of its useful life?
• Can materials be recovered and redeployed?
• How will suppliers support collection, refurbishment or recycling?
• What operational infrastructure is required to make circular systems work?

Reusable cold-chain packaging illustrates what circular thinking looks like in healthcare logistics.

Rather than using insulated shipping containers once before disposing of them, reusable systems recover packaging after delivery, inspect it, clean it, recondition it where necessary and return it to the network for future shipments.

But as Paula points out, the packaging itself is only one part of the equation.

“The reusable shipper is important,” she explained. “But it doesn't stop there. You also have to ask where it comes from, where it goes afterwards, and what happens when it reaches the end of its life. If you want to become truly circular, there has to be collaboration across the whole supply chain.”

Why data is becoming just as important as packaging

Physical assets are only part of the solution. Designing circular supply chains also depends on the visibility to manage them effectively.

As circular logistics models become more sophisticated, digital technologies are helping organizations understand where packaging is located, how often it’s used, when maintenance is required and how assets can be recovered more efficiently. Digitalization and automation, such as predictive analytics and IoT-enabled asset tracking, are transforming circular supply chains.

“We need to stop thinking linearly,” said Paula. “Circularity is really a systems problem. Adopting a systems mindset helps organizations balance sustainability ambitions alongside operational performance.”

Consider reusable temperature-controlled shippers.

Recovering the shipper after delivery is only the beginning. Procurement teams must also consider how those assets are tracked across international networks, how they are cleaned and validated for reuse, how they are repositioned to future collection points and how unnecessary transport can be minimized.

World Courier has had a global infrastructure in place to operationalize reusable packaging across its network. Even with that established experience and recovery capability, continuous optimization remains essential.

“Data plays a critical role in making circular supply chains work,” Paula explained. “We're constantly looking at how we can optimize the movement of our reusable shippers so they're transporting products whenever possible, rather than traveling empty.”

The implications for procurement are clear. Circularity isn't achieved simply by replacing disposable packaging with reusable packaging.

It depends on designing an operating model capable of supporting asset visibility, recovery, redeployment and continual optimization across the entire supply chain. AI also has the potential to improve end-to-end visibility, demand forecasting and reverse logistics efficiency, helping organizations make better use of assets across the network.

Reverse logistics: where circular supply chains succeed… or fail

While reusable packaging often attracts the most attention, the packaging itself is only one component of a circular supply chain.

The real challenge begins once the shipment has been delivered.

“Recovering packaging, validating it for reuse, cleaning it, reconditioning it, repositioning it and returning it to the right location all require a carefully designed reverse logistics network,” said Paula. “Without that infrastructure, even the most sustainable packaging solution can quickly become inefficient.”

That reality changes how procurement teams evaluate suppliers.

Choosing a reusable solution also means assessing whether suppliers have the operational capability to support recovery programs, whether sufficient visibility exists across the network and whether the logistics model can sustain repeated cycles without introducing unnecessary cost or complexity.

World Courier has seen these challenges first-hand.

One example involved a client transporting cell and gene therapies in high-value aluminum transport cases. Once the therapies reached hospitals, the cases often remained on site because there was no established process for retrieving them.
Rather than viewing the issue purely as spent equipment, World Courier explored whether those recovery journeys could be integrated into its existing reverse logistics network.

“We asked ourselves, if we're already bringing back the reusable shipper, why can't we recover the aluminum case as well?” said Paula.

The exercise demonstrated how circular thinking often begins by redesigning existing logistics processes rather than introducing entirely new ones.

The same principle is already being applied elsewhere across healthcare. 

Programs that recover used insulin pens for recycling rely on collaboration between pharmaceutical manufacturers, logistics providers and healthcare organizations, illustrating that successful circular supply chains rarely depend on a single organization acting alone.

Looking beyond purchase price

“I think one of the misconceptions is that circular supply chains are automatically cost prohibitive or too complex to execute,” said Paula.

There are good reasons why companies see it that way. Reusable packaging generally costs more than single-use alternatives. Reverse logistics introduces additional transport movements, returned assets need to be inspected, cleaned and reconditioned, and organizations often need new digital capabilities to manage the entire system.

However, focusing only on upfront costs overlooks the wider business case.

“Yes, there may be upfront investment, but you're also creating resilience and making the most of the value you've already created,” said Paula.

Phased implementation, shared recovery networks and strategies that balance sustainability goals with cost constraints can help organizations build a stronger business case and scale circular solutions over time.

Instead of asking, “Which packaging option is cheapest today?”, organizations should also consider:

• Which solution delivers the greatest long-term value? 
• Which supplier can support recovery, refurbishment and redeployment? 
• Which model reduces operational risk?
• Which approach strengthens supply chain resilience during future disruption?

These questions become particularly relevant as organizations seek to reduce Scope 3 emissions, improve asset utilization and demonstrate measurable progress against corporate sustainability commitments.³ 

None of this suggests reusable packaging is always the right solution.

Different products, shipping lanes and clinical environments require different solutions.

The objective isn’t to maximize reuse at any cost. It’s to select the approach that delivers the best combination of patient safety, operational performance, regulatory compliance, and long-term value.

Preparing for a changing regulatory landscape

The PPWR goes beyond compliance. It changes how packaging is evaluated throughout its lifecycle.

As requirements around reusability, documentation, and digital traceability continue to develop, procurement teams are likely to spend less time comparing packaging specifications alone and more time evaluating the systems that support them.

That means asking new questions of suppliers.

Can they demonstrate robust recovery processes?

How are reusable assets tracked?

What evidence supports performance over multiple use cycles?

Can they provide the reporting and transparency needed to support future regulatory requirements?

“The questions we're seeing today are very different,” said Paula. “Five years ago, organizations were asking whether suppliers had sustainability targets. Today they're asking for commitments, roadmaps, and evidence that those commitments are being delivered.

“How suppliers operate is becoming just as important as the products they provide,” she added.

“No longer is sustainability treated as a standalone initiative. It's integrated into supplier governance, contract management, risk management and long-term procurement strategy.”

What leading procurement teams are doing differently

The organizations making the strongest progress aren't waiting for regulations to dictate every decision. They're already embedding circular thinking into procurement processes.

Rather than focusing solely on unit cost, they're evaluating suppliers against operational capability, lifecycle performance and long-term resilience.

They're engaging logistics partners earlier in packaging discussions, recognizing that recovery, refurbishment and redeployment should be designed into the operating model from the outset rather than added later.

They’re making greater use of data to understand where assets are located, how frequently they are used and where opportunities exist to improve utilization and reduce unnecessary transport movements.

Most importantly, they're recognizing that resilient circular supply chains depend on collaboration. No procurement team can deliver resilience and circularity alone.

Manufacturers, packaging suppliers, logistics providers, healthcare organizations and recycling partners all play a role in ensuring materials remain in circulation for as long as possible.

The strongest solutions emerge when organizations stop optimizing individual activities and begin designing the entire system together.

Circular supply chains won't be built through packaging decisions alone.

They depend on procurement, logistics, suppliers and healthcare organizations working together to redesign how products and materials move through the supply chain.

That will take investment, collaboration and new ways of thinking. However, organizations that begin redesigning those systems today will be better placed to respond as regulations evolve, customer expectations increase and resilience becomes an even more important measure of procurement performance.

As Paula puts it: “The biggest opportunity isn't finding a better way to deal with waste. It's designing systems where less waste is created in the first place.”