Reprocessing of uni-directional Biosense Webster ablation catheters: a novel disassembly method: Extraction of the yielding parts and/or materials from the Thermocool Smarttouch SF Uni-directional ablation catheter

Annually, around 180,000 cardiac ablation procedures are performed as a result of people experiencing cardiac arrhythmia’s. During this ablation procedure, an ablation catheter is used to scar the problematic cardiac tissue after which the arrhythmia will stop. The ablation catheter is discarded after one single use. Incineration of these...

A design approach to implement reuse of existing concrete bridge girders

To stop the depletion of natural resources, reduce climate change and fight biodiversity loss a circular economy in 2050 is pursued. In the upcoming years a challenging opportunity arises. Many existing bridges and viaducts with bridge decks consisting of prefabricated concrete girders have to be replaced. These girders although not designed...

Towards a Circular ICU: How to implement reusable video laryngoscopes at the ICU

The healthcare sector uses a lot of on single use medical products, causing large amounts of CO₂ emissions and excessive amounts of waste. This project contributes to a circular Intensive Care Unit (ICU) by investigating the barriers and possible solutions for a transition from single use video laryngoscopes (VL) to (partly) reusable ones, in...

Challenges and opportunities for material recovery and reuse in the construction & demolition industry in Zuid-Holland and the role of Blockchain

Urban areas are becoming more densely populated. More than 50% of the global population is already located in them. The Netherlands is among the countries with the highest population density. In 2017, 80% of its population was living in urban areas. It is expected that by 2050 the Netherlands will need between 300’000 and 1.6 million new homes....

An Eco Synergist Hub In Rotterdam: Reuse and Regeneration of neglected urban fragments into Ecological Hotspots

This paper focuses on the regeneration and reuse of remnant wasted structures, lands in Rotterdam into future ecological hotspots to foster biodiversity, improve the quality of people and species’ lives. Due to a phenomena of pressing urbanization undergoing in the city, the majority of the old industrial, harbour areas or structures are...

The road to sustainable load bearing glass designs: possibilities and limitations of current glass design with focus on the connections

Despite the increased popularity of the application of load bearing glass in the built environment, its design does rarely address sustainable or circular aspects. This Master’s Thesis analyses what the influence of connections is on the sustainable performance of structural glass and informs about the limitations and possibilities of sustainable...

Fruit and vegetable packaging solution: A reusable and convenient packaging solution, for fresh fruits and vegetables

This thesis started with the question of ‘’What is the necessity of all packaging in food products?’’. The problem of packaging waste is undeniable, an example of the cause of packing to the environment is the ‘’plastic soup’’. Plastic packaging degrades over time, which produces microplastics. Microplastics accumulate in the environment and...

Sustainable Sport Venue Design: A design proposal for a demountable temporary Olympic arena, optimized for a post-event use in steel construction.

A design strategy for an temporary Olympic arena optimized for a post-event use in steel construction has been researched. Three strategies have been considered, namely relocation, adaptation en up-cycling. A research by design was conducted with a parametric model, where two optimized designs have been compared. Applying several reuse...

A Zero-Waste Approach in the Design of Buildings: Introducing a new way of approaching sustainability in buildings with a conceptual industrial building design as an illustrative example.

Climate change and environmental issues are important in today’s society. The earth is being depleted of its resources and the changing climate could irreversibly change the planet for the worse. Sustainable buildings are mostly optimised for the use phase but neglect end of life scenarios. Buildings are often demolished and materials are dumped...

A Zero-Waste Approach in the Design of Buildings: Introducing a new way of approaching sustainability in buildings with a conceptual industrial building design as an illustrative example.

Climate change and environmental issues are important in today’s society. The earth is being depleted of its resources and the changing climate could irreversibly change the planet for the worse. Sustainable buildings are mostly optimised for the use phase but neglect end of life scenarios. Buildings are often demolished and materials are dumped...

A Zero-Waste Approach in the Design of Buildings: Introducing a new way of approaching sustainability in buildings with a conceptual industrial building design as an illustrative example

Climate change and environmental issues are important in today’s society. The earth is being depleted of its resources and the changing climate could irreversibly change the planet for the worse. Sustainable buildings are mostly optimised for the use phase but neglect end of life scenarios. Buildings are often demolished and materials are dumped...