100% Biodegradable Nitrile Gloves are Changing the Way we Address Sustainability In the Animal Healthcare Industry.
The animal health industry’s consumption of single-use products is difficult to accurately measure, but can be easily qualitatively determined by walking around any clinic or animal hospital. Looking around, it is highly likely that you would encounter boxes of latex-free nitrile gloves. In practice, one or more pairs of gloves can typically be seen being used for just one patient. Stick with me here…
According to Forbes, 89.9 million US Households (66%) own at least one registered pet in 2023. *
Now imagine every single one of those pets seeing a veterinarian just once per year; excluding any surgical visits, consultations, accident and illness visits, and more. That would be a whopping 179.8 million medical gloves, that after use, end up in our landfills. That is, so long as they don’t end up on our shores, oceanic garbage patches, and anywhere else they don’t belong.
Traditional nitrile exam gloves can take over 200 years to decompose, allowing plenty of time for an extended leach of toxins into soils, wild animal consumption, and hazardous product lifetime proliferation.
Now we have the facts, but we still need nitrile gloves to protect caregivers and patients. So what can we do without sacrificing patient care and general safety practices?
Designed to specifically address the growing issue of single-use product waste in the medical industry, KVP BetterGloves™ are a biodegradable and FDA-approved medical-grade nitrile glove. The science behind these biodegradable gloves is fascinating, and dare I say – revolutionary. A unique approach, involving BDG drop-in technology is shown to attract microbes from the landfills that these nitrile gloves end up in. Microbes are then responsible for breaking down the gloves in a record time- just a few months compared to over 2 centuries.
It's time we do better as an industry by substituting less-than-ideal products for more sustainable options. Especially when there is no significant compromise in efficiency, safety, costs and quality. So what are you waiting for?
Learn More About KVP BetterGloves™ product information, research and testing here.
*Forbes, “Pet Ownership Statistics 2023” https://www.forbes.com/advisor/pet-insurance/pet-ownership-statistics/
Tess McIntire | LinkedIn