Abstract
Recent years have seen an acceleration in efforts to secure global supply chains of ‘critical minerals’ for defence, digital technologies, energy and transport. However, this rapidly evolving geopolitical context also impacts other sectors including healthcare which rely on some of the same resources. In orthopaedics, metals including titanium and medical grade stainless steel are used for implants. Supply chain disruption and rising costs therefore pose risks to product performance in the body, affordability and quality of patient care. Firstly, this paper shares findings from a content analysis of grey literature by leading orthopaedic manufactures. Secondly, it presents an illustrative re-use example of an ongoing collaboration between Canadian and East African paediatric orthopaedic health care professionals. The article makes an original contribution by identifying a list of ‘orthopaedic critical minerals’ and highlighting the potential for responding to material shortages in the sector and global health inequalities through product re-use.
Keywords
critical raw materials; transition minerals; circular design; extractivism
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.747
Citation
Schiffer, A., and Cooper, A.P. (2026) Critical minerals in the body: towards re-use in orthopaedic healthcare, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.747
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Critical minerals in the body: towards re-use in orthopaedic healthcare
Recent years have seen an acceleration in efforts to secure global supply chains of ‘critical minerals’ for defence, digital technologies, energy and transport. However, this rapidly evolving geopolitical context also impacts other sectors including healthcare which rely on some of the same resources. In orthopaedics, metals including titanium and medical grade stainless steel are used for implants. Supply chain disruption and rising costs therefore pose risks to product performance in the body, affordability and quality of patient care. Firstly, this paper shares findings from a content analysis of grey literature by leading orthopaedic manufactures. Secondly, it presents an illustrative re-use example of an ongoing collaboration between Canadian and East African paediatric orthopaedic health care professionals. The article makes an original contribution by identifying a list of ‘orthopaedic critical minerals’ and highlighting the potential for responding to material shortages in the sector and global health inequalities through product re-use.