Dexcom wasting our planet

OK, I agree and will start. I demand that diabetes be cured once and for all. The industry has made enough money milking patients and insurance companies for far too long and that will solve the waste issue at the same time. :smiley:

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Today, one of those problems is scientifically possible and one is not.

I’m pretty sure they have been working hard on a cure for a long time. Autoimmune diseases are not easy to cure. I can’t think of a single autoimmune disease that has a cure as of today.

Just some fyi…
I use medtronic 670g with automode. The transmitter is rechargeable and the inserter is reusable. The new guardian sensors are fantastic. There were problems in the last, but the improvement is incredible. I love mine!!

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I like this about the Medtronic system, although I’ve never used it. But someone else on this forum said that, even though the transmitters are rechargeable, they still only last a year like the Dexcom transmitters. So, fit hat’s the case, there doesn’t seem to be an advantage to them. A reusable inserter is nice. My pump has a reusable inserter and I much prefer it to anything disposable.

I agree. But…this inserter is far more comfortable. Inserting my earlier sensors was frequently painful and often bloody to the point that I would dread doing it and take CGM breaks.

I never had a problem inserting infusion sets, even manually, but the cgm was torture.

My transmitter lasted 6 years. But the sensors are no where near as accurate as dexcom.

The medtronic transmitters had 1 year warranty, so many replaced once out of warranty. There were also improvements aver the years, similar to dexcom.

I recall using the early MM Sof-sensor and recharging every 3 days and was happy getting Dexcom Seven, no more charging and longer wear time. But yes, more waste.

Were politics easy, there would be an easy solution: make manufacturers responsible for the disposal of their products at the end of the product’s life. You’d see considerably more corporate attention to the problem in that world.

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I just wish I could pull the needle out, like I do with my Mio inserter.
I tried to grad the G6 needle with needlenose pliers to no avail.

Now I have giant hazardous waste bins full of G6 inserters that I have to drop off every 6 months!

Glad to hear the G7 will be better in this respect.

Something to be noted: Reusability is far better than recycling. Recycling is good, but too much recycling can be bad also. It takes a lot of energy to process recyclables, and that energy has to come from somewhere, as well as any byproducts created during the recycling process.

When it comes to medical supplies, there is always going to be a lot of waste as many things can’t be truly safely reusable. Not to say that improvements can’t be made.

I think a reusable inserter would be hard to design given the way the sensors work. The inserter has to have a needle that goes over the sensor wire so that it can puncture the skin and then retract leaving just the sensor wire. About the only way to do it would be to have the sensors preloaded with a needle and have it clip into the inserter somehow. So I mean it is possible, but might be tricky to design something that works reliably like that. On top of that, I have a strong feeling that a large part of the problem comes from FDA requirements, though I could be wrong.

Recycling isn’t all it’s cut out to be. There are real problems in that industry that need to be solved. That’s not to say recycling is bad; it’s still better than straight-out disposal. But the real solution is reducing consumption. A reusable inserter fits that bill.

But I must admit I love the functionality of the G6 inserter. The lack of pain is fantastic. And for someone like me with arthritis, the large ergonomic housing and simple trigger makes it possible for me to reach the back of my abdomen. That range of motion is something I lost in the g4/g5 era.

I almost didn’t get the G6 two years ago because of the freaking inserter. Seems like it could be reloadable.

Can’t even recycle. However, I am thankful for the technology as it is integrated with my Tandem pump.

Agree!! I wish they could develop (and FDA approve) a way to REUSE the insertion devise with sterile sensors. Such a waste!!

While there’s a case to be made that no company and no individual should be off the hook when it comes to waste, I do think some perspective might be useful.

I would guess that the little plastic toys in McDonald’s Happy Meals given out in a single day waste more plastic than the total waste created by all the Dexcom G6 sets manufactured since the G6 was introduced.

To be clear, I’m totally guessing. I have no idea. My point is that there is a lot of wasteful packaging and plastic utensils and plastic straws and plastic bags and just plastic junk and, in the scheme of things, the plastic wasted in the packaging of Dexcom’s life-improving and sometimes life-saving technology doesn’t amount to much.

I agree with you on plastic toys. They are a waste and kids play with them for 2 min and then they get caught in the vacuum.
As for dexcom they went from reusable inserter to a disposable one that was a lot of plastic then to a giant heavy robust inserter that is full of metal and plastic. So they are going in the wrong direction in my opinion. There is zero reason they can’t sell the sensors separately and load them on that that inserter.
It’s not just them so many companies do it. It’s just that I noticed it more because I had the original dex and went to Minimed now back to dexcom and I was shell shocked.
My Minimed sensors I would remove from the plastic and insert by hand. I would forgo the dex inserter too if I could but they are not designed to be removed so it’s just more and more waste.

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I’ll take the tradeoff for the incredible ease of placement and use. Also reduces by far the number of failed insertions, which require more shipping and all that huge waste.

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When I started my G6 over a year ago, I called Dexcom and asked why the inserter was so huge for the tiny sensor. They responded that they wanted to make the inserter manageable for “the elder population” among their users. I told them that I was part of the “elder population,” but that I certainly did not need their monstrosity of a wasteful insertion device. Then they told me that such a device was needed to properly automatically insert the needle, to which I replied, “Bull$#*!” I let them know that I have been using the OmniPod for more than a decade, and Insulet has solved the insertion “problem” by building it into the Pod. All I have to do is stick the Pod onto my body, push a button on my Personal Diabetes Manager (PDM) controller, and the needle inserts the cannula and then retracts again. If Insulet Corporation can do it with my Pods (and, thus, NO waste from any insertion device), then the technology is out there. Dexcom should be able to build something into the sensors that automatically inserts the needle/cannula, and then gets disposed of when the sensor gets thrown away. My brother-in-law used to live out in the country where he had no trash pick-up, so he bought a trash compactor which crushed all of his weekly garbage into one small bag. I think we all need one of those so we can put a year’s worth of diabetic waste into just a bag or two a year. Until then, I will add my voice to those who demand that Dexcom redesign their products to avoid the horrible waste.

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Sorry to disagree, but I’m part of the “elder population” that very much appreciates the ergonomic design and trigger that allows me, with arthritis, to continue reaching sites near the back of my abdomen. I could no longer do that in the final year of g5 as my arthritis progressed. The “elder population” isn’t homogenous. To me at least, the design meets a real need.

I wouldn’t be so quick to make that statement until I could see the inside of the inserter, understand it’s function, speak with the ME’s who designed it, and understand what challenges making it reusable present.

Good discussion, folks! I love the ease of the G6 but hate the waste. The solution I would like to see is prepaid “return” boxes to send used inserters back to Dexcom to retrofit with new needles, sterilize, and ship them out again. Probably not possible, but I can dream…

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