British surgical instrument manufacturer, Surgical Holdings, has announced the launch of a new company-wide green initiative to reduce both their and the NHS’s carbon footprint.
This initiative includes launching a new 'Ethical Duty Smart Repair' service, which actively promotes the repair and refurbishment of surgical instruments and other medical devices to tackle global steel wastage. Customers can now access an online customer dashboard, Surgifix, which allows the whole repair process to be arranged and processed remotely. Its aim is to support positive efforts to better global sustainability within the surgical industry.
Currently, most surgical instruments – made of surgical grade stainless steel, end up in landfill and remain there, with detrimental environmental impacts. It is recognised that it requires 50% less energy to refurbish a surgical instrument than to replace it.
To reduce its internal carbon footprint as much as possible, all Surgical Holdings repairs are carried out in-house and technicians are trained through an internal apprenticeship programme to manufacture instruments rather than simply repair them.
This allows all repairs of rigid endoscopes and orthopaedic power tools to be carried out to an exceptionally high standard, as well as equipping workers with the necessary skills to ensure a sustainable flow of surgical instruments in line with the company’s circular economy approach. Surgical Holdings is further empowering its staff through ISO14001 certification to better support efforts to eliminate its environmental impacts.
It has also introduced a Corporate Membership of Ecologi, a charity dedicated to funding global environmental projects. As a member of Ecologi, Surgical Holdings have so far funded 1,315 trees, predominantly to support mangrove restoration efforts in Madagascar, an island currently undergoing a huge planting project following damning deforestation and loss of entire animal species, as well as supporting reforestation projects in countries such as Kenya, Uganda, and the UK. The company has additionally cut its carbon emissions by 92.73 tonnes – and counting.
Dan Coole, managing director of Surgical Holdings, commented: “We are very happy to announce that we have taken a number of positive actions towards giving back to our planet, committing to a green company initiative launching this month in support of our theme of sustainability. Surgical Holdings has proudly become a corporate member of Ecologi, alongside the big shot players such as BBC, Tech Crunch, Forbes and The Guardian, and 11,278 other businesses worldwide.
“Alongside Ecologi, an exciting channel of working green, we look forwarded to continue taking active steps to reduce our carbon footprint through the launch of our unique new repair and refurbishment service to tackle the challenge of unnecessary steel wastage, which remains a huge problem in healthcare.”
Research shows that the energy required to produce 260kg of stainless steel for surgical instrument manufacture (approximately 5200 scissors) could power an average British home for one year. Mining itself is known to contribute to biodiversity loss, land degeneration, water and air pollution, while the shipping of stainless steel for new instruments inevitably contributes to harmful carbon emissions.
The company’s newly-launched ‘ethical duty’ refurbishment service allows every single instrument on every single tray to be entirely refurbished to an ‘as new’ condition, instead of replaced. This actively promotes the recycling of stainless-steel products, preventing the unnecessary wastage of instruments which usually ends up in landfill causing soil contamination.
Dan adds: “Rather than incurring spikes in cost as instruments reach the end of their life, customers can access a complete preventative refurbishment service at a fraction of the price of manufacturing new instrumentation through our new refurbishment service. Through our Surgifix dashboard, an online surgical instrument repair portal exclusive to Surgical Holdings, the whole repair process can also be arranged and managed remotely, with customers able to track the status of their instruments in real-time.”
To keep a track of Surgical Holdings’ climate contributions, visit https://ecologi.com/surgicalholdings.
