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Cairn’s Carbon Reduction Plan shows sharp fall in emissions

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Medical product and service supplier to the NHS and private hospitals, Cairn Technology, has completed its Carbon Reduction Plan for its base year, 2023.

Although 2023 is the first year that the company has actively calculated its carbon emissions, it already has an ethos of trying to minimise its impact on the environment.

This has included suppling reusable surgical instruments that come with a 30-year warranty to superabsorbent theatre mats that can significantly reduce the volume of less absorbent mats going into clinical waste.

2023 saw Cairn Technology also focus on reducing carbon emissions relating to its operations. Whilst it already sources products from Europe to minimise delivery miles travelled, it has significantly reduced carbon emissions in two other key areas:

1. Scope 1 emissions have been slashed by almost 30%

2023 saw Cairn Technology make a 29.9% reduction in carbon emissions from the company cars used by some of its staff, including its consultants who deliver workplace exposure monitoring in hospitals across the UK.

This reduction was achieved by switching to lower carbon emission company cars, such as hybrid or fully electric.

2. Employee commuting emissions have been cut by 45%

Post pandemic, Cairn gave its office staff the choice to work flexibly with a split of home and office-based working.

By implementing this hybrid working structure, we have lowered our scope 3 category 7 employee commuting emissions by 45%.

Carbon emission reduction aims for the future

The company aims to become Net Zero for Scope 1 for the reporting year 2024 through carbon offsetting schemes.

Its longer-term commitment is to achieve Net Zero across all relevant scopes and categories by 2050, at the latest.

Director Peter Binns says: “Cairn Technology began in 1999 as an environmental consultancy that helped companies to reduce their emissions to atmosphere through continuous monitoring and manage the environmental impact of chemical spills. So environmental performance is deeply ingrained in Cairn’s identity.

“Our yearly Carbon Reduction Plans are a useful way to show our NHS and private hospital clients how we are supporting them in their own plans towards Net Zero.”

Read our full 2023 Carbon Reduction Plan

To find out about other ways in which we have reduced our carbon emissions, click here to read our full Carbon Reduction Plan for 2023.

If you would like to see the independent audit of the plan email info@cairntechnology.com for your copy.

 

The NHS Carbon Footprint Plus: 3 Ways absorbent mats can help

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The NHS Carbon Footprint Plus includes a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from supplier products, as outlined in Scope 3 of The Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

According to NHS England’s 2022 report Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service, one of the greatest areas of opportunity for a reduction in carbon emissions is through medical device suppliers.

So how can absorbent floor mats from Cairn Technology help the NHS in this area?

  1. Reduced absorbent mat waste through absorbency

Medical equipment accounts for 10% of the NHS Carbon Footprint Plus (1). So it stands to reason that any product that results in less waste than other market alternatives can help drive down this percentage.

As our T-Mat superabsorbent floor mat absorbs between 4 and 13 times as much fluid as the incontinence sheets on the market, theatre staff have to dispose of far fewer mats into clinical waste at the end of each procedure.

You can find out more about our T-Mats here: https://cairntechnology.com/product/t-mat-absorbent-floor-mat/

To make an enquiry please click here: https://cairntechnology.com/contact/

  1. Reduced absorbent mat waste through size

Another issue that theatre staff also face with absorbent floor mats is that they invariably have to use mats of a specific size.

With our DryMax XL absorbent mat for scrub rooms and theatre floors, staff can cut it to the size that they require. This is the case whether they buy boxes of the individual mats or the 50m roll with dispenser.

By cutting off only the size of mat required every time, theatres can see a significant reduction in the amount of mat waste throughout the year.

You can find out more about our DryMax XL mats here: https://cairntechnology.com/product/drymax-xl-mats-box-50/

Or for the DryMax XL on a Roll click here: https://cairntechnology.com/product/drymax-xl-roll-absorbent-mat/

Or to make an enquiry, please click here: https://cairntechnology.com/contact/

  1. An absorbent mat supplier committed to supporting NHS Net Zero targets

Cairn Technology is committed to helping the NHS meet or exceed its commitment on net zero emissions before the end of the decade.

With the biggest source of carbon emissions from medical equipment being in acute care, our absorbent mat products can have a real impact in this area.

Not only can our mats help to reduce waste within hospitals, as a supplier we are also looking to reduce our own carbon footprint in terms of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol’s Scope, 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

From minimising the amount of paper that we use in the office, to recycling our packaging where possible and encouraging the use of electric and hybrid vehicles, we are already on the path to a greener business model in support of our NHS.

 The NHS Carbon Footprint Plus

For more information on how our absorbent mats, surgical instruments and other products and services can help support the NHS Carbon Footprint Plus keep an eye on our blog.

 

References:
  • https://www.england.nhs.uk/greenernhs/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2022/07/B1728-delivering-a-net-zero-nhs-july-2022.pdf