8 LEADING EDGE - 2022-1 In recent years we have all become more aware of the problems plastic causes to our environment and the need to massively reduce the amount of plastic waste we create. It is estimated that since the 1950s, humans have produced over 8.3 billion tons of plastic. Public concern for the extent of the problem of plastic waste has only been raised in more recent years, through documentaries such as David Attenborough’s Blue Planet or by activists such as Greta Thunberg. The British Government has launched the 25 Year Environment Plan which has pledged to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste by 2042. This will include the abolishment of plastic straws, carrier bags and food packaging. Plastic in Healthcare Unfortunately, much of the single use plastic in healthcare is seemingly unavoidable, with a huge 25% of the waste generated by hospitals being plastic. The use of plastic gloves and masks in hospitals are integral to protect healthcare workers from disease. Plastic is an extremely desirable material for hospitals and other healthcare environments due to it being low cost, very easily processed, very lightweight and able to be sterilised very easily. Plastic can even be modified to have a bacteriaresistant coating to help protect workers. While it is clear nobody can argue that safely disposing of hazardous PPE or biohazardous samples is an essential use of plastic, only 15% of healthcare waste is classed as “hazardous”; infectious, radioactive or toxic. The remaining 85% is similar to the plastic waste generated at home, which is where a reduction could be realised. In a typical operating theatre, there will be vast quantities of “blue wrap” used to place sterile equipment on or inside, which could easily be replaced by a sterilisable container. Surgeons also often use small resealable disposable plastic bags to keep their sterilised equipment inside, and it has been suggested these could be replaced by reusable steam sterilisation pouches such as those created by EnviroPouch®. Plastic gloves are another example, where in some cases are used unnecessarily. As stated by the Sustainable Development Unit for England’s National Health Service, there was a time when nurses at London’s Great Ormond Street hospital realised that healthcare professionals were choosing to use non-surgical gloves instead of washing their hands when performing tasks such as moving beds or bathing babies. When nurses started to remind staff that the gloves were not intended for these purposes, glove usage went down. The hospital was able to cut its use of plastic gloves, saving 21 tonnes of plastic and £90,000 as a result. There are many uses in healthcare, for which plastic is currently the best option at our disposal. Whilst it is highly unlikely that hospitals will ever be able to eliminate plastic waste due to the necessity for containing biohazardous waste material, there are certainly still ways to reduce usage in certain areas. Home-Testing Kits During the pandemic the use of home testing kits has become common place in across the nation. It is estimated that the UK is currently testing over 580, 000 people per day and over 4 million people per week. With this much single use plastic needing to be disposed of, and some of it incinerated, the only way to cut back on this is to make the plastic packaging as small as possible within the regulatory guidelines, which most test providers aren’t currently doing. UN3373 Sample Transport Requirements When transporting any diagnostic samples, whether blood, urine, faeces or swabs, from the patient to the laboratory for testing, the specimens must be packaged in accordance with the UN3373 Biological Substance, Category B regulations. These are a legal requirement designed to protect personnel from any exposure to potentially infectious samples during their transit. Failure to comply to the packaging requirements can lead to prosecution. UN3373 compliance requires a three-layer packaging system consisting of the primary vessel holding the sample (blood Vacutainer® Universal container, swab transport tube etc.). This must be enclosed in a secondary packaging solution that separates all vials and includes absorbent material that could soak up the entire contents of the primary container in event of its compromise. If the primary container is not 95kPa certified, then the secondary package must be. Finally, a rigid outer container is required which is marked with the UN3373 logo. Reducing the Volume of Single Use Plastic in Healthcare with the Award Winning ShuttlePouch™ Biohazard Transport Solution In just one week in May 2021, there were a total of 1,794,634 coronavirus PCR tests performed. Using ShuttlePouch™ as a packaging solution instead of competing products would use the equivalent amount of plastic of only 484,500 coronavirus PCR tests. On average, ShuttlePouch™ has a 73% reduction in plastic when compared to three direct competitors equivalent products. Statistics provided by Shuttlepac
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUyODc1Mw==