Sustainability

Bagasse instead of plastic. 316 stainless that comes back to us. Procedure packs designed so a practice can be single-use and lower-impact at the same time. Sustainability built into the spec, not bolted on.

The numbers

  • 100% bagasse procedure tray. No plastic substitute.
  • 316 stainless steel instruments — surgical-grade, recoverable on rebate.
  • ~50–70g weight saving per pack vs plastic-tray equivalent.
  • Estimated $4–7k saved per practice, per year when switching off autoclave reprocessing (figure indicative — depends on volume, current setup, labour rates).

Bagasse, not plastic

Every Skin Excision Pack ships on a sugarcane-fibre tray. Compostable substrate. No plastic substitute.

The single-use category has been built on plastic by default. We chose to start somewhere else. The tray is the most-touched part of the pack, and the part that ends up in the bin every time a procedure is done. Bagasse is a by-product of sugar production — it would otherwise be burned. Using it for the tray turns a waste stream into a procedure surface.

316 stainless. Rebate on return.

Our instruments are 316 surgical-grade stainless steel — the same alloy specification used in operating-theatre reusables. Single-use, but high-grade.

Because the steel is recoverable, we offer a rebate model: the practice collects used instruments, and PolyMedica facilitates recovery with a credit applied to the practice account. Cost-neutral to PolyMedica. Material-neutral to the planet. Margin-positive to the practice. The rebate program is rolled out per practice on subscription onboarding.

Ready for the RACGP 6th edition

The RACGP's 6th edition Standards include explicit expectations around environmental sustainability, infection prevention, and reprocessing of clinical equipment. A practice using PolyMedica is, by design, aligned with the spirit and letter of those expectations.

  • Single-use, sterile, no reprocessing risk — eliminates AS 5369:2023 burdens
  • Reduced single-use plastic footprint via the bagasse tray
  • Recovery program for surgical steel
  • RACGP 6th edition alignment brief in the onboarding pack

What we won't compromise on

Sterility first. Sustainability is a constraint we design within. Procedural quality, sterility, and patient safety always come first.

Honest claims only. We don't make carbon claims we can't audit.

The practice's economics matter. A green pack that's twice the price gets thrown away. PolyMedica is priced to be the better economic choice once reprocessing labour, autoclave validation, and accreditation cost are accounted for.