How a smart medtech firm helps the NHS reduce its CO2 footprint – Med-Tech Innovation
British smart medtech company NeedleSmart is helping the NHS reduce CO2 emissions in its clinical waste disposal as part of its Carbon Reduction Strategy, saving £10s of millions in clinical waste destruction.
NeedleSmart is collaborating with the NHS, facilitated through the NHS Supply Chain innovation route, to drive a campaign forward to minimise single-use plastics and associated packaging. As of 1st April, and as part of the Government’s recycling policies, all plastic packaging must contain 30% recycled material or be subject to a levy of £200 per tonne.
The NeedleSmart technology is also part of a programme to reduce and eradicate 100,000 needlestick injuries (NSI), which affect all healthcare workers across the NHS. This initiative alone will help save the NHS and its trusts more than £127 million each year.
The Knowsley-based company has designed and developed products including the NeedleSmart Pro (NS PRO) for safe needle destruction and disposal. The technology is being pioneered in a partnership with the Innovation Centre at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital and piloted with a number NHS trusts across England as part of the NHS’s carbon reduction and sustainability programme.
As of 5th January 2022, the global COVID-19 vaccinations programme had delivered 134 million vaccinations in the United Kingdom, 513 million in the USA and 1.4 billion in India.
In the UK alone, using the NeedleSmart technology purely in relation to the vaccination programme would have saved the NHS 15,132 tonnes of CO2 annually.
This is equivalent to:
NS PRO destroys a contaminated hypodermic needle in a sealed chamber in six seconds. The NeedleSmart device heats the needles inserted into the chamber to 1,300 degrees celsius, which will kill potential harmful pathogens, viruses and bacteria adhering to the needle. The needle is then compressed into a tiny cold ball and released from the NS PRO device as a safe sphere of metal at the tip of the syringe.
This safely destroys the needles and converts them into safe clinical waste and allowing for recycling, but also decreases the level of clinical waste disposal, along with the carbon emissions associated with disposing of that clinical waste and its incineration. Previously, the entire needle would have had to be disposed into a plastic sharps box, which carried a limit on how many intact needles could be disposed of.
Now the clinical waste can be split into two parts, with the molten metal ball part of the clinical waste recycled as safe waste and the plastics recycled into the system. This represents a huge advancement for the NHS in reducing its carbon emissions and recycling its clinical waste.
NeedleSmart CEO and smart medtech disruptor, Cliff Kirby, said: “By adopting the NS PRO device, the NHS will enjoy a whole host of efficiencies in cost-savings and reduction in carbon emissions, in addition to crucial safety aspects.
Using the NS PRO for the safe disposal of hypodermic needles can radically reduce the 100,000 needlestick injuries that occur each year to surgeons, doctors, clinical staff and hospital porters.
But the even greater capability for reducing carbon emissions lies in the fact that using the technology means we can reduce the carbon emissions that the NHS produces by 95%. Using the NS PRO to safely dispose of the needles and put these into our biogenic carboard disposal boxes has major savings. The use of the NS PRO offers substantial savings to the NHS and the environment.
“This means more clinical waste can be stored in each NS PRO disposal box, which reduces the number of trips to empty and dispose of clinical waste. It also reduces the single use of plastics waste and allows for greater recycling of non-hazardous waste materials against the existing approach of incineration, which creates more emissions with carbon pollution. Finally, it reduces carbon emissions of associated logistics – be that manufacture or disposal.
As a UK SME, it is fantastic to work and collaborate with the NHS directly to drive forward innovations that will have a real and meaningful impact on climate change.”
NeedleSmart has recently achieved FDA approval as a Class II medical device, making it the first UK company to achieve FDA 510(k) approval (Class II for Sharps Needle Destruction Device (NDD)) and allowing it to expand into the US market and other global territories.
Claire Liddy, managing director of innovation at Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “At Alder Hey, we have been innovating for the past 100 years. We want to ensure that we are always standing at the leading edge of clinical innovation, sustainability, and the green tech space.
“The technology presents lots of opportunities for us to also reduce waste and carbon, which is a huge agenda for the NHS and Alder Hey as part of the NHS Carbon Reduction programme. We really want to be a hospital that is pioneering in the space of green tech. We think the NHS has a long way to go in the clean, green agenda, but we see the relationship between Alder Hey and NeedleSmart as being a great platform to achieve this as we work towards carbon net zero.
“The partnership between Alder Hey Innovation Centre and NeedleSmart has a common purpose to innovate and disrupt. One of the biggest safety concerns for us across the NHS is needlestick injuries. So, we are excited to see how the technology can not only reduce those injuries, but also eliminate them all together.”