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Did You Know ? |
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About Vinyl and the Environment? The vinyl industry is committed to the sustainability of its products - from manufacture to disposal. Vinyl medical products can be safely disposed of in one of four ways: sterilizing/landfilling, recycling, recovery, and incineration. Vinyl medical products are being recycled, but more can be done. The vinyl industry, in cooperation with its partners in the healthcare industry, is investing in sorting technologies and working to develop new and more effective recycling programs to ensure that even greater percentages of vinyl medical products are reclaimed and recycled. No other material used in healthcare today offers vinyl's unique blend of benefits and unmatched record of performance. Every day, healthcare professionals rely on virtually hundreds of products made of vinyl, and more life-saving applications are being discovered every day. Vinyl is tested, tough and trusted. It is truly a material of choice for healthcare - now and in the future. [Ref: Website: www.vinylfacts.com - life-saving benefits of vinyl] About Safety of Healthcare Professionals When disposable medical devices are cleaned rather than discarded, healthcare workers are at greater risk of exposure to blood and body fluids. Cleaning protocols and sterilization also increase the risk of exposure to toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde and Eto. Both patient to patient adn environmental contamination are risks when reusing disposables and this concern has been justified in documented outbreaks of infection. Difficulty with cleaning or improper cleaning may leave a biofilm or prevent adequate penetration of the sterilant, both of which can interfere with the effectiveness of sterilization. A reduced standard of chemical disinfection from sterilization has been noted for some critical instrument reuse. Risks include the creation of disinfectant-resistant micro-organisms and a reduced disinfectant effectiveness due to declining concentration and increasing bioburden (protein concentration) [Ref: "The Reuse of Single Use Medical Device - Canadian Hospital Association"] |
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