Sustainable cleaning for medical devices
Add enzymes to your formula for advanced cleaning power – and greater sustainability
Even though efficient cleaning is of the utmost importance in hospitals, sustainability is moving up the agenda fast. With new advanced enzymatic technology, you get the cleaning power you need to remove tough clinical soils and keep patients safe – but in a gentle, more sustainable way.
How do enzymes work?
Let’s start by looking at how enzymes work. Enzymes are biodegradable biomolecules that can perform specific cleaning actions. For example, proteases work on proteins, such as blood and bodily fluids, while amylases break down glycogen, which is often associated with the residual build-up in devices, such as endoscopes.
Save energy, eliminate harsh chemicals
This means you can select the exact enzyme, or combination of enzymes, you need to perform the specific cleaning task. What’s more, thanks to their catalytic power, only small amounts of enzymes are needed to deliver powerful cleaning performance at low temperatures and moderate pH levels. For hospitals, this means energy savings and fewer strong chemicals needed in detergents.
Natural and safe cleaning power
As enzymes are naturally occurring substances, they are renewable, stable and biodegradable, which makes them easy to handle. In other words, not only are they safe and effective for use in cleaning your instruments, they are also safe in the water stream that the detergent will eventually return to.
Prolong equipment lifetime & reduce waste
Finally, with enzymes, you can get the powerful cleaning you need using a milder detergent formulation. This protects delicate medical instruments and devices and prolongs their lifetime. For hospitals, this decreases the waste and costs associated with purchasing new equipment while improving patient outcomes.
Using enzymes in medical cleaning can help:
Save on chemicals
Reduce toxicity in wastewater
Decrease CO2 emissions
Prolongue equipment lifetime
Thanks to their catalytic power, only small amounts of enzymes are needed to deliver powerful cleaning performance at low temperatures and moderate pH levels
- Inadequate cleaning before sterilization is the cause for 34% of the delays in operating rooms related to instruments. *ECRI Institute. (2019).
Want to know more?
These are just some of the ways that Novozymes can help the medical industry achieve greater sustainability through enzymatic cleaning. Contact us to find out more about how we can support you in achieving sustainable medical cleaning processes.