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https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/cloths.pdf The disposable debate
Stuart Hands, from Tork manufacturer Essity, considers the arguments for using disposables from both a health and sustainability viewpoint.
A few short months ago, groups such as Extinction Rebellion dominated the news as sustainability activists across the globe sought to highlight the threat of climate change.
Now the world is facing a much more immediate threat. COVID-19 is claiming lives on a global scale and nations have come to a standstill as we unite to combat the virus that causes it.
The NHS is on the frontline of the UK’s battle, with manufacturers all over the country doing what they can to keep our health workers supplied with vital personal protective equipment (PPE) such as face masks and gloves.
Clearly such items need to be disposable in order to minimise any risk of cross-contamination between patients and staff. In fact, the healthcare sector is a major consumer of disposable products in general, with items such as paper wipers for cleaning, couch rolls for examinations and washroom hand towels all in constant use.
But disposable products are, by their very nature, thrown away after use. So how do we balance the use of such items with today’s heightened concern for the environment?
As a society we have become increasingly reluctant to discard any item that we could conceivably re-use, recycle or repurpose. It has become second nature for us to minimise the amount of waste we send to landfill where possible.
But the advent of COVID-19 has brought home to us a much more pressing issue – the need to avoid the risk of cross- contamination at all costs. Health organisations everywhere are urging us to avoid sharing towels, for example, and to throw away tissues immediately after using them when sneezing or blowing our noses.
Disposables therefore have an important role to play in our lives from a health and safety viewpoint – and this is true of many other environments besides the healthcare sector.
The food processing and hospitality industries are also big users of disposables. The Food Safety Agency (FSA) advocates the use of disposable cloths in commercial kitchens in place of dishcloths, for example, since these are said to have the potential for spreading bacteria and allergens – particularly when wet.
The FSA also recommends the use of disposable products for mopping up spills, cleaning surfaces and wiping the hands in order to avoid any risk of cross-contamination.
When it comes to industrial workplaces, disposables are often employed for health and safety reasons here too. Textile rags are the traditional solution in industry for cleaning components and mopping up spills, and these are often used with solvents to remove grease and grime from surfaces.
26 | PAPER AND DISPOSABLES
However, if solvent-soaked rags are left lying around the workplace they could aggravate any skin conditions on the hands of operatives, and they could also give off fumes which could lead to respiratory problems.
So disposable products are often the safest, most hygienic, most convenient – and sometimes even the only – option. But how do we square this fact with our heightened sense of responsibility when it comes to throwing items away and creating waste?
In fact, if a disposable product is both effective and fit for purpose, it can be more sustainable than alternative solutions.
If we take the industrial sector again as an example, traditional rags used for wiping come in a variety of materials, qualities and sizes which means their performance will be inconsistent. Some rags will be non- absorbent and ineffective at soaking up solvents, while others will soak up large quantities of solvent and retain it within the cloth.
Besides the health issues involved with leaving solvent- soaked rags lying around the workplace, using excessive amounts of solvent also has sustainability and cost implications for a factory.
A disposable product can therefore offer real benefits. For example, Tork cleaning cloths containing Tork exelCLEAN have been shown in independent tests to require up to 41% less solvent than rags. This means that industrial operatives who use these cloths can reduce the amount of solvent they use, cutting down on deliveries and lowering the health risk.
However, due to sustainability concerns, it is still important to limit disposable use wherever possible to reduce the amount of waste produced. This can be achieved with the aid of smart dispensing systems that naturally cut consumption.
For example, Tork wipers for healthcare, food processing and industrial environments are housed in Tork Performance dispensers which are designed to give out cloths and wipers one at a time. This means each operative only takes out the quantity of paper they need and consumption is reduced.
In commercial kitchens, disposable products tend to be used liberally – particularly when loose rolls of paper are provided for wiping hands and surfaces and for mopping up spills. An operative here might be tempted to tear off a long length of wiper to avoid having to hunt around for another roll the next time paper is required.
A good alternative is the Tork Reflex Single Sheet Centrefeed system which gives out sheets of paper one at a time, resulting in consumption savings of up to 37%.
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