The meet-up of two start-ups with a similar background story and vision 🌎
The pandemic demonstrated clearly the pollutive side of healthcare. Single-use healthcare products are of paramount importance for human health, but sadly comes at the cost of nature. In the last years, millions of single-use diagnostics have gone to landfills, been incinerated or buried worldwide. Likewise, traditional disposable face masks usage increased to an estimated 129 billion per month globally in 2020, significantly more than the 89 million per month pre-pandemic, generating plastic waste pollution and microplastics on land and in water. 1.56 billion facemasks were likely discharged into the marine area in 2020. If nothing changes, we will have more plastic in our ocean than fish by 2050.
Also, hospitals have increasingly relied on single-use products. A recent report from the Netherlands indicates that each day, hospital waste could fill 80 trucks. The environmental impact of hospitals is comparable to that of the aviation industry, contributing to 7% of the total carbon emissions. This underscores a health paradox, highlighting the tension between human health and environmental well-being. Certainly, prioritizing human health is paramount, but can’t the healthcare sector protect humans and our Earth at the same time? Similar to other industries, it's time for the healthcare sector to prioritize sustainability.
Two start-ups are taking the lead to a greener future of healthcare. Okos Diagnostics and Okosix are two start-ups, founded with the same goal in mind, namely, to tackle the plastic pollution coming from a single-use product in healthcare. They are revolutionizing this sector by bringing to the market fully and truly biodegradable innovative products.
Okosix is a pioneer providing green / plant-based raw materials that replace plastics without harmful microplastics or high carbon footprints. The company specializes in designing unique plant-based materials for medical, personal care and hygiene applications, and addresses multi-billion-dollar applications in urgent need of sustainable alternatives. Okosix flagship material has been used to create the world's first nano-tech fully compostable surgical masks, bringing down the biodegradation duration from a few hundred years to just 6 months.
Okos Diagnostics, originated around the plastic accumulation of rapid tests, and introduced world’s first biodegradable housing for rapid tests. Every time a rapid test is performed, around 10 grams of plastic is thrown away. Before the pandemic, annually billions of lateral flow assays were already used, for testing for pregnancy, hormones, and infectious diseases. Because of the pandemic, the technology is well known, and is expected to grow 5% every year into a 20-billion-dollar market. Okos is currently penetrating the diagnostic market and partnering with in-vitro diagnostic companies to introduce their biodegradable housing.
Together, Okos and Okosix, aim to raise awareness around the topic of medical waste, boost each other’s business, and aim to replace more single-use plastic products with biodegradable materials.
From nature to nature, to a greener future of healthcare.
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Contact us to know more about our solutions.
Okos Diagnostics: E: info@okosdiagnostics.com and M: +31 850 041 330
Okosix: E: hello@okosix.com and M: +852 9099 1501