Fighting climate change
Quality medical instruments
Protecting the environment
The MedCo board has made preserving the environment and reducing our Carbon footprint a key aspect of all our operations. Our commitment to the environment is a core value in line with our ethos to provide health solutions and ultimately better health and wellbeing for all.
The MedCo board has set goal of being carbon neutral by 2028 and we have set aggressive carbon reduction targets that are monitored monthly. We also have a carbon offset scheme that has planted 1200 trees this year to meet our sustainability goals and be Carbon negative.
Our protecting the environment initiative will continue through the duration of the contract by reviewing and innovating in the following areas:
- Product Innovation. Our team review the environmental impact of our products and have reduced their carbon impact by 14% by combining buffer tube and buffer cap, prefilled buffer tubes, and reducing the swab size. On future contracts, we will introduce biodegradable waste bags, recyclable outer boxes, removing a waterproof layer and creating greater printing efficiency. We are currently evaluating the use of a tapioca material, which would make the cassette biodegradable, rather the plastic. We will discuss with UKHSA the use of these materials for possible piloting of these products.
- Air Freight. We are committed to reduce air freight in line with our carbon neutral goal by 2028. The need for quick delivery of test kits is a key component of the contract and hence we are reliant on are freight to achieve the requirement. A key example of where we have avoided significant airfreight over the past 12 months, was a contract on 300 million masks, which would have equated to 30 charter planes. We negotiated this with the client, and agreed to bring the product via sea, which saved a substantial amount of carbon.
- UK Transport. Our UK vehicle fleet is 90% hybrid vehicles, and we are piloting the use of fully electric vehicles (10%). The hybrid electric vehicles deliver a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to the equivalent non-hybrid. Over the course of the contract, we will move to a 50% hybrid and 50% electric split.
- Green Energy. All our UK facilities use green energy and have been audited to ensure they have the lowest energy consumption. We are working with the whole supply chain to minimise environmental impacts of production. The manufacturing facilities for our extraction buffer tube and swabs, use clean energy such as wind and photovoltaic. During the course of the contract, we will move to a full green energy consumption.
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