New procurement criteria for more sustainable packaging at Nordic hospitals – Anbud365
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Nordic co-operation under the auspices of the Danish regions has developed new, voluntary environmental criteria which will make manufacturers of hospital equipment cut the use of packaging – for the benefit of the environment and climate. It is a powerful signal to the market, it is said. Norway has also been involved in the development of the criterion, which the Danish supplier industry in the area has also pressed to its chest. The first procurements where the criteria are in use are underway. The plan is to get the whole EU to apply the criteria.
The criteria have been developed by the five regions in Denmark in collaboration with public procurement at hospitals in Norway, Sweden, Iceland and the Faroe Islands. The purpose of the criterion is to cut packaging waste, facilitate recycling and increase the content of recycled material or sustainable sources.
I document «Nordic criteria for more sustainable packaging» There are a number of criteria for packaging products for the health sector that can be used in a procurement process. The target group is those who have a responsibility to define packaging-specific concrete criteria that are relevant to its procurement.
Signal to the market
By developing the criteria in a Nordic co-operation, the association Danske Regioner sends a signal to the market and sets a clear direction for the suppliers, it is said. There is support for a cost-effective change towards more climate- and environmentally sustainable packaging.
Medicoindustrien, which is the industry organization for Danish companies that develop, produce, sell or otherwise have an interest in medical equipment, views the initiative positively, writes Danish Regions in a press release. The association has been consulted during the development of the criterion.
4000 tons of plastic waste
Danish hospitals are large consumers of products that are all properly packaged – and which result in a large amount of waste. The consulting company COWI has estimated that just plastic parts of this waste amount to close to 4000 tonnes per year.
According to the Danish Regions, all the regions in Denmark are now in the process of the first procurements that are required to be included. Other purchasing organizations in the Nordic region are also following suit. The criteria can be used in connection with a wealth of products.
Across the EU
The head of the environment and climate committee in the Danish Regions, Mads Duedahl, says that the packaging criteria must first and foremost make the producer a smaller amount of packaging for the benefit of the environment and at the same time hunt for more recycling of e.g. plastic. The fact that the region has included the Nordic region has been a huge motivating factor, according to Duedahl, who adds that their next goal is to spread the criterion so that they are used throughout the EU.