It’s not just healthcare providers who want to make sustainable choices when buying health technology, but also the growing number of consumers who care about their own health and the health of our planet. And yet, in the rapidly expanding world of e-commerce, it is not unusual for consumers – including those buying personal health devices – to buy the same product in two or three formats to try them out at home. According to Pitney Bowes, 51% of shoppers consciously overbuy online, knowing they’ll return the items they don’t want. But when it comes to returns, too often, somewhere in the chain, it ‘pays’ to destroy the product and avoid the costs of transport, storage, relabeling, etc., rather than going back to the source.

So what can we do to reconcile these two, apparently contradictory, developments? One answer: highlight the environmental benefits of ‘rethinking returns’ through better-informed ordering. In Europe, we see more and more brands signing up to the EU’s Green Consumption Pledge to raise awareness of products’ environmental footprint. One way they can do this is through the adoption of eco-labeling that communicates, for example, how they are reducing the use of resources, materials and packaging.

With the growing focus on health, both personal and planetary, sustainable choices offer brands the opportunity to engage – more closely than ever – with consumers keen to take positive action to leave a healthier planet for future generations.