Published research highlights the sustainability benefits of adopting reusable containers.
LONDON, Sept. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sharpsmart, a subsidiary of Daniels Corporation International Pty Ltd, today announced the results of a ground breaking third-party research study that underscored the sustainability of its reusable containment systems and highlighted their viability as a strategy for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in healthcare settings.
The original research study, published in the British Medical JournalOpen(BMJO), compared the Life Cycle Carbon Footprint (LCCF) of single-use and reusable sharps containers at 40 NHS trusts spread across England and found that converting from single-use to reusable sharps containers delivered an 83.9% reduction in carbon footprint over the year-long study period.
The conversion eliminated the annual need for over 1.7 million reusable plastic containers, replacing them with approximately 85,000 reusable containers, saving the incineration of 900.8 tonnes of plastic. The volume of the 1.7 million plastic containers saved in the 40 trusts would fill the entire pitch of Wembley Stadium to a depth of 2.5 meters, every year.
The findings demonstrate how healthcare facilities can use sustainable purchasing strategies to achieve the NHS's greenhouse gas reduction targets with minimal staff behaviour change or retraining required.
The study highlights the importance of supply chain sustainability towards achieving the NHS's net zero goal, citing a 2020 NHS promise to only purchase from suppliers that meet or exceed their commitment to net zero by the end of the decade.
The paper's lead author Terry Grimmond, Director, Grimmond and Associates, Microbiology Consultants, said the following: 'With the NHS's commitment to being the world's first "net zero" national health service by 2045, supply chain sustainability will be a major contributor to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and this study confirms that adopting reusable containers is an important element of that approach.'
With data gathered across 40 NHS trusts and over 10,000 required calculations, the scope of this study far exceeds any previous research on the topic. Additionally, the study underwent rigorous peer review by three international experts in carbon footprint analyses.
Sustainability is a key pillar of Sharpsmart's approach, along with safety, efficiency, compliance, and education. Since entering the UK marketing in 2000, Sharpsmart has been a leader in driving innovation in the field of healthcare waste management, introducing clinically designed reusable containment systems that reduce safety risks for healthcare professionals as well as the impact of waste on the environment. This critical research study further underscores that environmental impact and points to an actionable strategy for greenhouse gas reduction at NHS trusts.
About Sharpsmart
Sharpsmart entered the UK healthcare market in 2000 as the safe clinical alternative for sharps management. Challenging the long-instilled practices of sharps and clinical waste being managed as a service that included little clinical or healthcare worker safety value, Sharpsmart ushered in a new standard of risk prevention by putting inherent safety, intelligent movement, and clinical design at the forefront of point of care sharps and infectious waste management practices.
With a national service infrastructure that supports hospitals across the United Kingdom, and years of collective experience and expertise in the clinical space, Sharpsmart is the unrivalled expert in infection risk reduction, sharps management, and infectious waste management solutions. In 21 years of servicing over 100 acute hospitals and thousands of other healthcare service providers, Sharpsmart has earned itself the reputation of not simply a "provider" of solutions, but a true "partner" to the NHS.
For more information, visit https://www.sharpsmart.co.uk/
