Michael Monostra , 2025-04-16 12:50:00
April 16, 2025
4 min read
Key takeaways:
- Researchers estimated the average person with diabetes disposes 2.7 lb to 3.3 lb of diabetes-related waste per month.
- Stakeholders need to implement changes to reduce diabetes-related waste.
Researchers are aiming to raise attention to the amount of waste generated with the use of diabetes devices, insulin and other treatment tools.
In a small study published in Diabetes Care, 49 adults with diabetes who used a continuous glucose monitor, used an insulin pump or received at least three insulin injections per day tracked the type and amount of diabetes-related waste they threw out for 30 days. Researchers estimated that each study participant throws out 2.7 lb to 3.3 lb of diabetes-related waste each month, which accounted for about 2% of their total household waste.
Participants stated that their most common concerns were related to excessive waste with bulk products, excessive packaging, single-use or nonreusable products and materials that were difficult to recycle.
David C. Klonoff, MD, FACP, FRCP (Edin), Fellow AIMBE, medical director of the Diabetes Research Institute at Mills-Peninsula Medical Center, and principal investigator on the study, said the findings should push the health care community into making waste reduction a bigger priority in diabetes product manufacturing.
“When we asked people what they thought of the amount of waste, they were unhappy with it,” Klonoff told Healio. “We think that the main purpose of this study was a wake-up call to the diabetes community so we can get all of these stakeholders more aware, working together and putting less waste or poorly recycled material into the process.”
Healio spoke with Klonoff along with Alessandra T. Ayers, BA, and Cindy N. Ho, BA, molecular biologists at Diabetes Technology Society and co-authors on the study, to discuss the findings and how stakeholders can reduce diabetes-related waste in the future.
Healio: What is the key take-home message of this study?
Klonoff: One message is that diabetes devices generate an appreciable amount of waste, which we estimate to be approximately 2% of the waste that the average U.S. person generates. It’s not the biggest component, but it’s a measurable component.
Cindy N. Ho
Ho: Roughly 8.4 million people in the U.S. are using insulin. If you look at the number of people on insulin pumps as well as on multiple daily insulin injections, together they contribute over 100 million pounds of waste annually just in the U.S. alone. That’s almost one-third of the weight of the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco.
Klonoff: We didn’t write this article to blame anybody. If people have diabetes, they need the tools that the medical world provides to them. We don’t think that the tools are being wasted, but we think that there could be ways of using less material or making it easy to recycle what was used. One example that we talked about in the article has to do with instructions for use.
Ho: People that have diabetes are usually managing it for the rest of their lives. With a CGM for example, after a couple uses of CGMs, people with diabetes are pretty familiar with how to use it. But every time you get a device, you still receive these super long paper instructions. One way to reduce the amount of waste is to provide products where a QR code or electronic versions of instructions for use are available for people who are already familiar with the products.
Healio: Two of the most common issues noted by participants were excessive packaging and too much waste. How can these comments be used to generate change in diabetes device packaging?
Alessandra T. Ayers
Ayers: I think it’s very useful to hear from the people who use the products. After looking at the results of the study, there wasn’t a universal conclusion that participants reached. They had some different perspectives and worries about the amount of waste that diabetes products generate.
Klonoff: A few years ago, a group of us put together the Green Diabetes Declaration. As [Ho] has said, manufacturers have a job to do. But we are going to need to see all these groups come together and be interested at the same time and form a coalition. That includes health care professionals, patient organizations, waste management experts, government agencies and device manufacturers. Every one of those groups has a role to play.
Healio: What are some diabetes waste problems that need to be addressed?
Ho: With a typical CGM that is on the market, when you dispose of it, there isn’t an easy way to remove the batteries. When they’re disposed of improperly, the batteries end up in landfills where there is a big mechanical process that compresses them. The batteries are made out of lithium and can catch fire. That spontaneously leads to urban fires, which is a growing concern every year, especially in California.
Ayers: If you don’t dispose of a needle properly, then it can be dangerous if someone pricks themselves, you can potentially transmit bloodborne diseases. It is important in public spaces to have proper needle disposal bins so that people can safely dispose of those needles.
Klonoff: Waste handlers are at high risk. If someone throws a needle into an average garbage can, then they could pick it up and get stuck. Recently we heard about a new method for disposing of medical waste and sharps.
Ho: We just spoke with a company that has a method where hospital diabetes waste can be put into a bin and their special converter grinds everything and heats it up to more than 130°C so that they eliminate the sharps issue related with waste disposal. Also with the high heat, they dispose of the biohazardous component of waste.
Healio: What does the diabetes community have to do moving forward? What types of ideas can be implemented to reduce the amount of waste?
Klonoff: Manufacturing a product has various steps to it. It is hard for manufacturers to change all the steps, it’s not practical to change everything. I would like to see manufacturers make changes where they can, and for consumers to express what they want and select products that are less wasteful.
Also, I’d like to see industry, government and nongovernment organizations working together to find more ways, more projects and more processes for people to be able to dispose of dangerous, hazardous waste.
Reference:
For more information:
Alessandra T. Ayers, BA, can be reached at ayers@diabetestechnology.org.
Cindy N. Ho, BA, can be reached at ho@diabetestechnology.org.
David C. Klonoff, MD, FACP, FRCP (Edin), Fellow AIMBE, can be reached at dklonoff@diabetestechnology.org.
Sources/Disclosures
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Healio Interviews
Disclosures:
Klonoff reports consulting for Afon Technology, Embecta, Glucotrack, Lifecare, Novo Nordisk, Samsung, SynchNeuro and Thirdwayv. Ayers and Ho report no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.