Dental Loop

Extension of Sterima Concept for Sustainable, 90% Waste Reduction in Belgian Hospitals

The partners of the Dental Loop project are exploring how to extend the existing Sterima concept of circular instruments in wound care to dental care. How can dental sets be made reusable in an efficient and economically feasible way in Belgian hospitals?

By choosing reusable alternatives, up to 90% less waste can be produced. Therefore, it is important to know what the contents of the set should be, how they can be successfully reused, how to convince partners and buyers and how to set up the return flow.
After purchase, the sets, which consist of three dental consultation instruments, can be reused up to 10 times. Currently, Sterima provides delivery and collection at all Belgian hospitals, but this project is looking at where optimization is possible. The cost is also being reviewed: a high purchase cost makes the move to a cost-per-use service model more interesting for healthcare institutions. The partners in this project are tackling the move to reusable kits in five ways. They begin by sensitizing doctors and purchasers to convince them that disposable is not better, more qualitative and safer. Next, after analyzing and investigating quality retention after reuse, a techno-economic study will be done on repair to extend life even more. This research will also identify what to do with the instruments and packaging at the end of their useful life. Then, with data and benchmarking, they can compare and optimize various applications so that in the long run fewer instruments are needed, which also requires less sterilization, transport and packaging. Finally, the logistics chain is also optimized