A Path to Resilience

RE-CARE

Reducing Consumption and Enabling Circularity in Local Healthcare

RE-CARE

Lead Organization: Gate 21

Project Period: April 2026 - April 2029

Pool: TRACE Pool 4

Project Status: New

RE-CARE accelerates the circular transition in municipal healthcare, where material use is rising as the 2025 health reform moves more care to local services. A shared needs assessment across municipalities shows common challenges: reliance on plastic consumables, inefficient workflows and limited coordination of circular efforts.

Strategically, RE-CARE supports TRACE’s North Star and Tipping Point 2 by strengthening transparency, organisational capacity and cross-sector collaboration for viable circular business models. Complementing existing TRACE health initiatives while addressing an underexplored part of the healthcare sector.

Participating partners: Gate 21, Roskilde University, Aalborg University, Solrød Kommune, Holbæk Kommune, Københavns Kommune, Bornholms Affaldsbehandling (BOFA)

Funding call: Circular Solutions to Single-Use Plastics and Textiles in the Healthcare Sector

Project Leader

Nicole Nordart

Mail: nino@gate21.dk

 

 

Other Projects

HealthW2R

TRACE Pool 4, In progress

HealthW2R develops and demonstrates a scalable Proof‑of‑Concept Circular Economy System for single‑use plastic consumables in healthcare laboratories.

[RE]PAIR

TRACE Pool 4, In progress

[RE]PAIR addresses the need to promote services that extend the lifetime of applied textiles across public and private sectors.

 

PROLONGing

TRACE Pool 5, In progress

The project supports Design for Longevity (DfL) and helps reduce overproduction and CO₂ emissions in the fashion industry.

SWARM2SCALE

TRACE Pool 5, In progress

SWARM2SCALE develops and scales circular plastics systems through higher education institution-led hubs in Greece, South Africa, and Nigeria.

 

 

LoopME

TRACE Pool 5, In progress

LoopME develops and tests a new Deposit & Return System (DRS) for reusable take-away packaging with the aim of reducing single-use packaging waste and supporting large-scale adoption of reuse systems.

 

 

SCOPE

TRACE Pool 5, In progress

SCOPE develops and validates a systemic circular solution for food-contact plastics at events and in canteens. By combining reuse systems and food-grade closed-loop recycling, the project aims to reduce single-use plastics and support the transition to a more circular food-service sector.

 

 

RE-SAFE

TRACE Pool 5, In progress

RE-SAFE will establish a PoC CE system investigating the chemical safety of reusable lunch containers in Copenhagen school canteens.

RE:Circulate

TRACE Pool 4, In progress

RE:Circulate develops a critical infrastructure for scaling reuse of furniture and workwear textiles in Denmark’s four largest municipalities.

PaX

TRACE Pool 4, In progress

PaX aims to catalyse a systemic shift in how patientwear is designed, used, and recirculated in Danish hospitals.

 

 

UNBRAND

TRACE Pool 4, In progress

UNBRAND tackles a central barrier in textile circularity, namely that branded workwear is discarded by the thousands long before its useful lifetime is over, simply because logos and graphics cannot be removed efficiently.

ROUNDS

TRACE Pool 4, In progress

ROUNDS will deliver strategic research addressing two key drivers of single-use plastics and textiles in healthcare.