HEINE AllSpec disposable tips – now made of recycled material
Sustainable EcoTips for otoscopes – with no difference whatsoever in examination quality
Gilching, March 2022
Plastic medical disposable products are advantageous in everyday practice. They are immediately ready for hygienic use, and they save time too since there’s no need for reprocessing. On the flip side, doctors’ surgeries and hospitals around the world produce lots of environment-polluting waste. HEINE Optotechnik is now taking a more sustainable approach by introducing the first otoscope tips made of recycled material, which helps to conserve resources and cut back on a huge amount of CO2 emissions.
The plastic previously used in making the tips is being replaced entirely by the new, recycled material.
The plastic used meets the stringent requirements for disposable medical products and has the same high examination quality with HEINE tips as before. HEINE AllSpec disposable tips delivered from 2022 onwards will look virtually identical to their predecessors.
Saving several tonnes of CO2 with EcoTips that are as light as a feather
HEINE processes plastic from end-of-life refrigerators and stops 1,996 tonnes of carbon dioxide per year from being released into the environment simply by recycling these refrigerators in a controlled manner. This figure is equivalent to every single person in the world travelling 62 million kilometres by train, or about 1,400 times around the Earth. The large CO2 equivalent of almost 2,000 tonnes per year is explained by the fact that CFCs, which are hugely harmful to the climate, are also captured for this plastic when the refrigerators are recycled.
All HEINE AllSpec disposable tips in a new recycled material
The new tips are now available in their usual sizes of 2.5 mm and 4 mm, each in packs of 250 or 1,000 units. They fit the HEINE BETA 400, BETA 200, K180, mini 3000 F.O. and mini 3000 otoscopes. Alternatively, there are, of course, always reusable tips that are extremely easy to reprocess.
New ways to achieve greater sustainability in production
The switch to EcoTips required a number of adjustments in the production process. ‘The biggest difficulty during the manufacturing process was initially sourcing a suitable recycled plastic for medtech products,’ remarked Timo Martin (HEINE’s COO). In the second step, the in-house Development Department then put the tips made of the new material through their paces. Once the developers and also the Quality Department were satisfied, the new otoscope tips could go into series production – on a new injection moulding machine that consumes only half as much energy as its predecessor.
Incidentally, the injection mould for the EcoTips is designed so that zero grams of waste are generated during production. And finally, the EcoTips are packed in unbleached cardboard, which are printed with just one single colour instead of four.
HEINE has intensified its plans to expand sustainable production processes over the next few years. The company is in a good starting position to do so, since most of the medical instrument production operations take place in the company itself. This is the best way to directly control production processes and changeovers.
HEINE – Quality made in Germany
As a global leader in the manufacture of primary diagnostic instruments with over 500 employees, HEINE Optotechnik has been a 100% family owned and managed company for more than 70 years. HEINE continues to develop and manufacture instruments at its facilities in Germany, where it combines decades-long experience and craftsmanship with the most modern manufacturing technologies.
HEINE is represented in over 120 countries around the world, with subsidiaries in Australia, the US, Canada and Switzerland as well as 3,000 representatives, importers and specialist dealers.
Press Contact:
Beatrix Balsiger
PR & Marketing Communications Manager
Tel: +49 8105 7728 0
E-Mail: press@heine.com