Advice re biodegradable specimen bags

I've no answers but I'm also interested in trying to address the volume of single use plastic specimen bags. I've enquired with one of our suppliers with no success.

I would agree that there is no point introducing a biodegradable product if it is going to be incinerated anyway, at least in high resource countries/settings where waste disposal is fairly intensively managed - ie the bags are unlikely to escape out into the environment.

Hi Lucy, This is an excellent question. The smaller clear primary bags serve little purpose besides keeping a patient's specimen tubes and paper request form (if used) together during transit. They do not offer any leakproof security, most are never correctly sealed, and all are disposed of at the end of the day. The larger secondary bags, properly used, do provide compliance with UN3373 and provide a leakproof outer. However, there are multiple-use systems that comply with UN3373, remove plastic waste, improve your CO2 footprint, and are more cost-effective in the long run. I think rather than moving to biodegradable bags, it would be more efficient to move to a multiple-use system. I have attached a couple of images of systems in use in NHS labs and would be happy to provide an introduction to colleagues in these labs using the system for feedback. Kind regards, Andrew

rack and waste examples.pdf543.81 KB

thanks everyone for your comments, I appreciate it. Andrew, I will speak to our labs regarding your suggestion. Unfortunately all our hospital samples are sent via a pod system, so I'm not sure the tube holders would work. Certainly worth a discussion though. If I find a magic solution, I will post it here.