With new COVID waves and heatwaves spreading across the world this year, two of the largest problems in Scotland's healthcare landscape remain climate change and infection control.

At the Infection Prevention and Control Conference 2022, healthandcare.scot spoke with Traffi – a sustainable, protective gloves company aiming to reduce the carbon footprint of PPE.

In the NHS Scotland climate emergency and sustainability strategy 2022 to 2026 consultation paper, the Scottish government acknowledged the rising problem of PPE’s climate impact, committing to “take forward a programme of work on sustainable PPE”.

Gloves are essential across the healthcare sector, with recent figures from the Scottish government revealing that over 1.07 billion items of PPE were issued to the NHS and care homes between March 2020 and May 2021.

Hand protection specialists Traffi have developed carbon neutral products and aim to “constantly innovate to help you achieve your sustainability goals”, providing biodegradable nitrile and tri-polymer gloves.

Of the total PPE recorded, 320 million pairs of gloves were issued in this period. These gloves are manufactured in Sri Lanka using “raw material sustainably produced” from a local area in their supply chain, reducing the carbon footprint within production.

Audit Scotland estimates that additional COVID-related PPE costs could be £158.9m for 2021/22 and as a result waste collection costs are set to rise. Ricarda James from Traffi told healthandcare.scot:

“We hope the Scottish government will embrace the opportunity to pursue a more sustainable solution to PPE and help to mitigate the environmental crisis which is rapidly unfolding.

“Using carbon neutral products is a step in the right direction as the Scottish government strives to reach Net Zero by 2045.”

While nitrile can be recycled, in healthcare settings nitrile gloves are often disposed of as hazardous waste and incinerated or sent to a landfill. Such disposal processes mean environmentally harmful waste which cannot be broken down may remain, contributing to pollution and increasing our carbon footprint.

Within the components of material and packaging, Traffi gloves still contain some nitrile and are made for healthcare professionals. But they have a lower composition of nitrile than standard gloves, and are delivered in recyclable packaging to further lower the carbon footprint.

Nitrile is a synthetic rubber and contributes to greenhouse gas levels in its production process. Traffi’s tripolymer disposable glove designed for medical, pharmaceutical and lab use, are made with more natural rubber. Traffi says 85% less energy is used per tonne to process natural rubber compared to synthetic rubber.

As some biodegradable products release methane as they degrade, development of carbon neutral materials for healthcare workers' PPE may be a promising step towards net zero. Traffi works with an integrated sustainability solutions provider to assess the greenhouse gas emissions of their gloves.

Ms James said of the Traffi TD02 Sustain gloves – for medical, pharmaceutical and lab use – which are made from this tripolymer:

“The tripolymer technology found in the TD02 Sustain glove uses a unique blend of natural rubber latex, nitrile and neoprene which gives a much lower carbon footprint due to the use of latex, which is a natural ingredient.

“The latex is sourced locally to the manufacturing facility which means that it has a much lower environmental impact than nitrile, which is derived from petrochemicals. The glove provides a physical barrier between the healthcare professional and contaminated or infected subjects. Whilst not highly resistant to chemicals, the TD02 is very well suited to general medical and examination purposes.”

Looking at the lifecycle from design to delivery, Trafi found their total carbon footprint for these gloves to be net zero. However, they will be continuing this work, and looking at end-of-life disposal in the future.

Parc Med focuses on virucidal uniforms for healthcare workers and their team are also working on improving the lifecycle of products and hope to provide this additional sustainability soon. Kyle Mclean from Parc Med told healthandcare.scot they are interested in developing a circular economy, wherein NHS boards lease uniforms which can be returned and recycled for a secondary purpose – such as mattress materials.

However, he added that an attitude change is need from “the top, from Scottish parliament” in terms of value and costing in procurement in working towards net zero and a more sustainable future.

Last month, the Royal College of Nurses criticised the “shameful” waste of public money and the environmental impact of disposing of “unusable” PPE as the UK government’s rushed procurement led to the purchase of £673m which were found to be defective.

Ms Ricarda said the Traffi disposable gloves are manufactured in a “new factory which uses the latest technology” to reduce environmental impact, adding:

“We use rainwater harvesting techniques to reduce our usage, and also use 100% renewable energy both at the manufacturing facilities and at our UK HQ and distribution centre.

“The environmental impact of transport is measured by an independent third party as part of our company carbon footprint and offset using verified schemes. We are taking steps to reduce our carbon footprint such as focusing on sea freight, which has a lower impact than air freight.”

 

Read more: The case for virus-killing uniforms; Plea: Be bold on prescribing to meet net zero; Promoting sustainable healthcare

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