Single-use, disposable, point-of-care diagnostic devices carry great promise for global health, including meeting urgent needs for testing and diagnosis in places with limited laboratory facilities. Unfortunately, the production and disposal of single-use devices, whether in lateral flow assay, cartridges, cassettes, or lab-on-chip microfluidic format, also poses significant challenges for environmental and human health. Point-of-care devices are commonly manufactured from unsustainable polymeric materials derived from fossil sources. Their disposal often necessitates incineration to reduce infection risk, thereby creating additional release of CO₂. Many devices also contain toxic chemicals, such as cyanide derivatives, that are damaging to environmental and human health if not disposed of safely. Yet, in the absence of government regulatory frameworks, safe and sustainable waste management for these novel medical devices is often left unaddressed. There is an urgent need to find novel solutions to avert environmental and human harm from these devices, especially in low- and middle-income countries where waste management infrastructure is often weak and where the use of point-of-care tests is projected to rise in coming years. We review here common materials used in the manufacture of single-use point-of-care diagnostic tests, examine the risks they pose to environmental and human health, and investigate replacement materials that can potentially reduce the impact of microfluidic devices on the production of harmful waste. We propose solutions available to point-of-care test developers to start embedding sustainability at an early stage in their design, and to reduce their non-renewable plastic consumption in research and product development.

A low-cost and easy to implement acoustic micromixer compatible with multiple fabrication technologies that can provide efficient and vigorous mixing.

In microfluidics, it is important to confine and transport light as close as possible to the sample by guiding it into a small volume of the microfluidic channel, acquiring the emitted/transmitted radiation. A challenge in this context is the miniaturization of the optical components and their integration into the microfluidic device. Among all of the optical components, a particular role is played by the beam splitter, an important optical device capable of splitting light into several paths. In this paper, a micro-splitter is designed and realized by exploiting low-cost technologies. The micro-splitter consists of a micro-mirror in-between two micro-waveguides. This component was fabricated in different materials: poly-dimethyl-siloxane (PDMS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and VeroClear RGD810. A 3D printing master–slave fabrication protocol was used with PDMS, a direct 3D printing approach with VeroClear, and a laser cutting procedure with PMMA. The experimental results obtained show the high potential of the proposed fabrication protocols, based on low-cost technologies, for the realization of micro-optical components, which could also be easily integrated with microfluidics systems.

Introduction: Wearable sweat sensors are emerging as non-invasive tools for health monitoring and point-of-care diagnostics. However, their single-use nature and complex manufacturing processes pose significant sustainability challenges. This research integrates Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) at the design stage to address these environmental concerns, using it as a decision-making tool to guide material selection.Methods: We developed an integrated capacitive sensor for continuous sweat rate and dehydration monitoring. The study’s focus was on replacing conventional silver-printed electrodes with more sustainable alternatives. We specifically investigated the viability of using copper-based laminates and screen-printed graphite as alternative electrode materials, assessing their performance against the original silver electrodes. A comprehensive LCA was performed to evaluate the environmental footprint of the device’s manufacturing and assembly processes.Results: Our findings demonstrate that both copper-based laminates and screen-printed graphite are viable substitutes for silver-printed electrodes, maintaining functional performance while significantly reducing the device’s environmental impact. The LCA data confirmed that these material substitutions lowered the overall environmental footprint of the wearable sweat sensors.Discussion: This work underscores the critical role of integrating sustainability principles and tools like LCA early in the design phase of medical devices. By making informed material choices, it is possible to develop functional, high-performance wearable sensors that are also environmentally conscious. This approach offers a practical pathway toward scalable, sustainable, and net-zero healthcare technologies.