Endeavouring to make medical facilities more eco-friendly has a host of benefits.
Going green isn’t simply a matter of hitting targets for social responsibility; there are many tangible advantages to leverage, besides having a clean conscience.
An ecological approach to hospital and care home management will reduce wastefulness and lower operational costs in a variety of ways – as well as improving your overall reputation.
Examining the processes in your sluice room is a great place to start.
Should you opt for single-use bedpans?
When considering your ecological footprint, single-use bedpans are occasionally misunderstood as being wasteful. However, this is far from the truth – medical pulp is often far more environmentally friendly than its plastic or stainless steel counterparts.
Firstly, pulp products are made from recycled paper materials – they don’t contribute to deforestation. Secondly, the disposal of these items isn’t the end of the cycle.
Rather, macerated pulp is filtered out of the water to become 'sludge', which is then turned into agricultural fertiliser – meaning the products work their way back through the ecosystem once more.
You should also consider switching to compostable wipes.
Many facilities purchase biodegradable wipes on the assumption that they are the most ecological solution on offer; however, this isn’t the case.
To be classed as ‘biodegradable’, a wipe must simply break down into smaller pieces by natural processes (and can take any length of time to do so).
Potentially, these wipes can take years to decompose (causing havoc to plumbing and sewerage systems in the process). Even after this process takes place, these wipes will commonly break down into microplastics – further polluting the natural environment.
As wipes are undeniably convenient and effective in a care setting, you’ll be pleased to hear that you don’t need to forego them entirely in order to be eco-friendly.
Rather, you need to switch to compostable patient care wipes.
A fully compostable wipe will completely break down and disperse into 100% organic matter when disposed of in bedpan washers, macerators, slop hoppers and toilets – leaving nothing behind to block the machine or linger in the environment.
Be sure to keep your sluice machines in a good state of repair.
If macerators and washer disinfectors aren’t properly maintained, they can still waste water and energy through leaks and general inefficiency – despite being designed to be economical.
Having a reliable service and maintenance contract to keep machinery running at its best, as well as spotting any potential mechanical issues early, can help to ensure that your machinery doesn’t create a significant carbon footprint.
Upgrade your equipment and keep up with eco-friendly technological advancements.
Nobody wants to hear that they need to buy a full suite of new machinery in order to keep their sluice room efficient. After all, you have an existing budget to consider, and any ecological considerations must be carefully weighed up alongside it.
However, if your existing machinery is considerably behind the curve, it could be costing you money through inefficiencies and repairs. Similarly, if you have a new sluice room in the design phase, it makes sense to kit it out with the most efficient machinery from the get-go.
The Pulpmatic Eco+ is the most environmentally friendly, economical and hygienic macerator on the market.
Using 50% less water per cycle than its predecessor, the Pulpmatic Eco+ is the ideal machine to compliment an eco-friendly sluice room.
Its innovative graphical user interface will ensure the machine is used correctly, preventing damage from accidental misuse and helping to secure efficient operation for many years to come.
Requiring little energy to operate, the Pulpmatic Eco+ can even reduce hospital budget spend with its low utility costs – before you even consider the cost-saving benefits of preventing infection and the associated ward closures.
All the while, the Pulpmatic Eco+ macerator allows you to save clinicians’ time and increase productivity by eliminating the need for manual cleaning of reusable items.