Study compares carbon footprint of single vs. reusable medical instruments

Solvay and Medacta have challenged perceptions that single-use medical instruments have a worse carbon footprint than reusable surgical instruments

Solvay Specialty Polymers and Medacta International completed the cradle-to-grave life cycle analysis to measure the environmental impact of high-performance polymers in healthcare applications, with the study showing that the two share a comparable carbon footprint.

Bianca Shemper, sustainability manager for Solvay Specialty Polymers, said: “As industry-leading innovators and collaborators, both Solvay and Medacta have been at the forefront of the trend toward single-use medical instrumentation.

“Despite the tremendous promise of the single-use concept for reducing the frequency of hospital acquired infections, concerns over increased waste have led to the perception that single-use instrumentation is less environmentally friendly than traditional systems.

“With Medacta’s help, we methodically explored those concerns to determine whether the alleged environmental impact of a single-use instrument kit outweighed its clear potential benefits.”

Applying the ISO 14044 standard for life cycle analysis, the group focused its study on the cumulative environmental impact of a surgical instrument kit for knee replacement manufactured by Medacta.

The kit is available with either all-metal reusable instruments (GMK) or with single-use instruments (GMK Efficiency) injection molded from several high-performance medical grade polymers from Solvay.

The analysis encompassed the complete cradle-to-grave life cycle of both kit options, including their raw materials, production, use and disposal, as well as post-use management, reuse and recovery.

The report said that the life cycle analysis of Medacta’s surgery kit demonstrated that the carbon footprint of GMK Efficiency single-use instrumentation is neutral when compared to the average CO₂ equivalent annual emission of a hospital using conventional metal re-usable instrumentation.

These findings counter existing industry perceptions about the negative environmental impact of single-use instrumentation, and reinforce the viability of metal-to-plastic conversion for these applications. Further, the findings allowed Medacta to apply Swiss Climate’s respected CO₂ Neutral stamp to its GMK Efficiency single-use surgical instrument kit for knee replacement, according to Solvay.

The report also found that GMK Efficiency single-use instrumentation eliminates the need for repeated washing and sterilisation, which can save up to 115 gallons (435 liters) of water for each surgical knee procedure.