A sustainable healthcare industry has long been on the agenda. Yet, recent research has discovered that the carbon footprint of PPE totalled over
100,000 tonnes CO2e in only the first six months following the COVID-19 outbreak. The greatest contributions to this came from gloves, aprons, face shields, Type IIR surgical masks and FFP3 respirators. In light of the pandemic, and the continued disposal of contaminated PPE, a sustainable approach should be a priority.
As mentioned previously, disposable PPE creates significant financial cost for the NHS, but it also creates a major environmental challenge. Disposable masks contain significant amounts of single-use non-recyclable plastic materials, all of which have to be disposed of as infectious waste requiring incineration. The ability to reuse PPE would go a long way to helping the healthcare industry’s environmental impact.
Until now, the sector has been unable to effectively decontaminate items between use. Creating an environmentally friendly environment is important, but keeping patients and healthcare staff safe is the number one priority.
Any solution that provides reusable equipment would require both guaranteed disinfection and complete traceability of the process. It must also be able to eliminate any level of scepticism surrounding the ability to completely disinfect items. There has always been genuine concern over the reliability to protect health workers and patients when it comes to reusable solutions.