Medsalv
Running equipment only when fully loaded helps make healthcare more sustainable.
Operating at full efficiency or not at all
Medsalv refurbishes used single-use medical devices from hospitals. They take items that would otherwise end up in landfill, and they clean and test them. They then sell them back to hospitals at a fraction of the original cost. This reduces hospitals’ waste and emissions, plus it saves the hospitals money.
Medsalv’s mission is to make healthcare more sustainable, so it’s important their own operations are sustainable too. The team decided to look at their energy use, to find out where they could reduce their environmental impact.
Key pieces of Medsalv’s equipment use the same amount of energy each time they run — whether processing a big or small load. The team realised that only running equipment fully loaded would slash energy use. For example, processing 100 devices at once would be 99% more efficient than processing a single device alone.
The team had to adjust their operations to make this happen. For example, they had to delay processing some devices. But the changes were worth it for the energy savings. And the cost savings, which they now pass on to hospitals.
Oliver Hunt, Founder
“Medsalv exists to reduce the emissions of the entire healthcare sector,” says Founder Oliver Hunt. “But we also put that same high bar on our own operations. By actively understanding and reducing our energy usage, we’ve found new efficiencies. This has helped us deliver more value to hospitals.”