www.alphalabs.co.uk 9 Reduce the Plastic Working with industry experts, the team at shuttlepac identified the many pain points plaguing the healthcare industry regarding the use of conventional 95kPa biohazard bags, including the massive plastic wastage. As a result, the reduction of plastic, as well as creating the highest quality product, is at the forefront of every single one of their designs. Commonly used biohazard bags that are traditionally used for secondary packaging are often unnecessarily large to hold the small vials within them. Could you imagine shopping for a few groceries and packing them in FOUR plastic bags instead of one? Yet this is the normalised practice within the healthcare industry! Unnecessarily large plastic bags dominate biohazard transport packaging. However, the ShuttlePouch™ can reduce plastic by up to 73%, and the figures don’t lie! Shuttlepac is championing the reduction of plastic in biological sample secondary packaging with the development of the UN3373 compliant ShuttlePouch™, a small pouch designed for individual tubes. ShuttlePouch™ is the best in show when it comes to reducing plastic wastage and providing secure secondary transport for biological material. Indeed, it recently won an award for innovative packaging - Flexible Plastic Pack of the Year, at the 2021 UK Packaging Awards. With up to 83% reduction in plastic material (average of 73% less across the range of standard biohazard bags), swapping to the ShuttlePouch™ has a noticeably positive environmental impact. This is especially true for the large number of home-test kits that are now in routine use. With the effects of the pandemic still in full swing, it is estimated that the UK is currently testing 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 the majority of test providers aren’t currently doing. Shuttlepac is the first in the industry to prioritise the reduction in plastic usage, and our overall environmental impact. Now is the time to move into the modern age by employing the state-of-the-art shuttlepac packaging solutions for biohazard transport! The reduction of plastic and production of the highest quality product is at the forefront of every shuttlepac design. The UN3373 compliant specimen transport solution, the ShuttlePouch™ addresses the issue of excessive plastic for secondary packaging of sample tubes by drastically reducing the size of the pouch to that more suitable for individual tubes. The 73% reduction in plastic usage means that, especially when it comes to home-test kits, swapping to the ShuttlePouch™ would have a noticeably positive environmental impact. Our thanks to Sandra Evans at shuttlepac for her contribution to this article. The ShuttlePouch™ range of leak proof pouches is designed to carry individual 95kPa pressure differential certified blood or urine specimen tubes (or any similar sized specimen tube). They include absorbent material already inside the pouch for convenient compliance to UN3373 packaging requirements. The pouches also feature a transparent front so the tube and label are clearly visible. An easy to open tear area facilitates processing when the samples arrive at the lab. The ShuttlePouch™ range is exclusive to Alpha Laboratories in the UK and Ireland, and provides a powerful, cost effective solution to the clinical and diagnostic market. Each leak proof bio-pouch is printed with easy-to-follow instructions showing how to pack and seal the specimen tube. Simply add a rigid outer packaging box for a complete and compliant UN3373 solution. In addition, the 95kPa pressure differential compliant ShuttlePouch™ is certified for transport by air (IATA). With all the features described above, they can be used with any leak free tube for transport by road or air. ShuttlePouch™ addresses the needs of customers, radically improving the user experience and reducing the cost of packing and shipping sample tubes compared with using conventional methods. Award Winning ShuttlePouch Cost Effective, User Friendly & UN3373 Compliant For more information on ShuttlePouch visit our website alphalabs.co.uk/ shuttlepouch Alpha Laboratories Ltd. is the exclusive partner for shuttlepac in the UK and Ireland. Find out more at www.UN3373.co.uk Size comparison between ShuttlePouch and competitor products
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