Did you know that 5 million tonnes of plastic waste comes from hospitals worldwide every year? The NHS alone produces 133,000 tonnes of plastic annually, and only 5% of this is recyclable!
The government goal to achieve zero avoidable plastic waste by 2042 coincides with making sure that resources are used more efficiently and kept in use for longer to reduce single-use plastic waste, reduce environmental impact, and promote reuse, remanufacture and recycling.
The government has already begun to assess the entire lifecycle of plastic to uncover how they can implement new measures. Single use plastics are highly attractive for the healthcare industry due to the fact that they ensure the most sterile environment, where any infected plastic can be easily disposed of.
Nevertheless, it is estimated that since the 1950’s there has been 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic have been produced, and the shock factor is that by 2050, this will likely have risen to 34 billion tonnes, most of which will end up in landfill or polluting the world’s oceans. The government aim to reduce this significantly in the coming years, their plans to improve the environment detail initiatives to eliminate all avoidable plastic by the end of 2042.
With the strict regulations the healthcare sector adheres to, RDi can support you in making the shift to more eco-friendly packaging as we focus on minimising the materials used in our kitting solutions. We focus on removing unessential plastic materials from our products whilst ensuring maximum compliance, minimal waste and optimised storage.
Where is the healthcare industry at now?
The healthcare sector is currently working to do their part to reduce single use plastic waste as the NHS Net Zero paper discusses their continued commitment to the NHS Plastics Reduction Pledge, with over 145 trusts signed up, reducing plastic within public healthcare is a key focus across the industry.
The Yorkshire Ambulance Service is just one of many examples of the trusts that have signed up to reduce plastic and in 2019/20 they removed 200,000 single use plastic items from their waste stream, saving 4 tonnes of waste per year and over £12,000 in packaging, delivery and disposal costs.
What does this mean for the healthcare sector?
Although the progress seen by internal healthcare sectors is widely recognised, there a number of other external businesses and organisations that serve the healthcare eco-system, RDi included.
Sectors such as laboratories, diagnostic testing providers, patient-facing medical services, private clinics, research and development trials as well as packaging providers and couriers will all need to assess their current procedures to support the pledge.
In order to reduce single use plastic use as much as possible, we must first identify where plastic cannot be avoided, then we need to facilitate the healthcare sector to achieve environmentally sound stock and waste management.
This can be achieved through creating a circular economy for plastics, enabling a model of production and consumption which involves putting the right systems in place. To ensure a procedure pack, packaging product, sample collection kit or other medical device is packaged within only essential plastic dimensions is the starting point.
From here we can work to identify the plastic components that can be reduced or ruled out, and where possible, replaced by alternative, more environmentally friendly materials.
As part of the government’s initiative, we plan to work with various industries to rationalise their packaging formats to ensure that we reduce single use plastic as much as possible across the hundreds of thousands of healthcare diagnostic kits and sample collection kits distributed to patients and businesses each day.
How will the reduce single use plastic targets impact you?
We’re passionate about enabling all the businesses and organisations that serve public health, which is why we’ve detailed exactly what the reduce single use plastic pledge means for those outside of the direct public healthcare setting.
What does this mean for diagnostic testing providers?
Diagnostic testing providers will need to consider more sustainable sample collection kits and transport packaging. Single use plastic is the typical material used in sample collection and packaging, and as mentioned, there is an opportunity to reduce plastic significantly here.
At RDi we offer innovative solutions for sample collection kits and packaging. Our safe2Pcanter, for example, is a reduced plastic, at home urine collection device that comes in a flat-packed design.
This complete sample collection kit opts for a collection device that is not reliant on plastic, reducing the plastic contents to 1gm LDPE, this is 95% less plastic used in comparison to other urine collection kits available to today’s market. The collection device itself is also 100% recyclable if you remove the plastic inner.
By simplifying, reducing and conserving, the safe2Pcanter is the first of many sample collection kits and devices we’re transforming into more sustainable, environmentally friendly, plastic-waste-free products.
As the safe2Pcanter is a flat-packed design, we can dispatch this product in high volume without increasing the carbon emissions implications of transport too!
What does this mean for healthcare clinics?
It is important to make sustainable choices where possible and there are huge opportunities for all patient-facing medical services to significantly reduce single use plastic use. However, there are strict regulations that need to be complied with in healthcare clinics in order to protect the well-being of a patient’s sample.
Switching to RDi’s reduced plastic transport packaging portfolio is an ideal choice for maintaining compliance whilst also embedding more sustainable transport practices. The safeTpouch, for example, is a premium standard specimen transport bag that is aligned with UN3373 packaging requirements whilst also achieving 73% less plastic use compared to other single-tube mailing options.
With the vast number of samples that healthcare clinics are shipping every day, the safeTpouch is the ideal solution to meet the ambitions to reduce single use plastic usage in the healthcare industry.
With RDi, healthcare providers can also outsource their production, this has huge benefits on carbon footprint as our fulfilment services are already fully optimised, automated and environmentally conscious with readily available production capacity.
Ruling out the need to design, manufacture and optimise your own in-house production line can save a business both financial and environmental costs.
We’re leaders in data and have developed an efficient state-of-the-art technology, that pairs unique patient data with the correct kit components at the point of assembly, enabling them to go on their onward journey to the patients rather than to a facility for labelling.
What does this mean for laboratories?
We recognise that a laboratories primary focus is on immunoassay testing, pathology inspections, and delivering results that bring patients closer to diagnosis. Being under the sustainability spotlight isn’t where labs should spend their time, however, everything from waste management to energy efficiency is being scrutinised in the laboratory and the reduce single use plastic initiative is no exception.
The ‘green lab’ is a phrase that has underpinned workflows and practices for numerous years now, as the agenda continues to broaden. More and more aspects of a laboratory’s ecosystem are being assessed to ensure their future sees no further detriment to the environment.
So, let RDi take one of these sustainability initiatives off your mind and trust us with sustainable packaging components, as we can provide peace of mind that samples will be received and distributed safely, reliably, and compliant with UN3373 Category B sample transport packaging regulations. Our suite of consumables is fit for land, sea and air, ensuring the successful delivery of samples whilst embedding sustainability into their intrinsic design.
What does this mean for packaging providers?
Packaging providers are required to meet the UN3373 Category B requirements when transporting samples within the healthcare supply chain in order to maintain the highest standard of safety of the samples.
To remain competitive in the market, couriers and sample transportation services will need to innovate their offering.
RDi are already one step ahead! We’ve already received packaging awards for our sustainable solutions, delivering major support during bowel cancer screening programs, the COVID-19 diagnostic pathways and other vital sexual and clinical health screenings. including the safeTpouch.
Our premium UN3373 packaging solutions have had sustainability at their core as standard for several years and have proven to enhance the service the healthcare industry often seek to outsource.
Don’t waste any more time and switch to RDi today to meet the UN3373 packaging requirements whilst achieving the sustainability goals of the sector and your target markets.
We continue to create and develop solutions to fulfil the gaps we identify in the market. Building a fully compliant, reduced plastic or plastic-free packaging solution will enable you to improve user experience, scale back on manufacturing costs and meet commercial ambitions to reduce single use plastic usage.
