I am a hygienist and I am a very environmentally friendly person. I am trying to keep our office as”green” as possible. Can I recycle the paper bags that have been put through the autoclave, rather than throw all that paper in the garbage?
Also, do you know anything about the products by Scican called Optim? They are apparently more eco friendly and I wanted to know if in terms of the infection control standards if they are o.k. If you know of any other eco friendly companies please let me know, or have any other ideas on how to make your office “green”.
ANSWER :
Your concern toward environment is perfectly justified, and I strongly adhere to your point. It is perfectly acceptable to recycle sterilization paper bags. Since they have gone through sterilization they are safe for the environment.
However, the sterilization bags cannot be used for additional cycles. When the steam gets in contact with the bag it modifies the structure of the paper and the plastic: the bag will keep the items sterile but will compromise the efficacy of the sterilization process if used for additional cycles. An alternative would be to use «hospital grade textile» to wrap your items and sterilize them. The cotton preserve the sterility, can be washed between cycles and are reusable. You can get information about this way of bagging by contacting the sterilization center of any hospital.
OPTIM33 is a good and safe (on the user and on the material) disinfectant to use. It is acceptable for the dental office as it is tuberculocidal. The antimicrobial action is fast. As far as I know, the product does not have residual activity: thus the surface should look «wet» for the entire contact time (approx. 1 minute). Keep in mind that if the surface is visibly «soiled» the contact time is critical, for a clean surface the disinfection process will be much faster.