Evercare Medical has partnered with Business Sweden in Malaysia and their Pioneer the Possible initiative to investigate all possibilities to accelerate our Malaysian partners transitions towards energy efficiency and green manufacturing.
The main takeaway from the work we have initiated in the past two years around environmental life cycle assessments (LCAs) of our products is that gloves represent the most significant contribution to our impacts on the environment. It is even the biggest product category in GHG-emissions for the whole Asker-group (three times the emissions of the next category – Wound Care products). The significant volumes (gloves often represent the biggest part of single use plastics used in the hospital environment) and also the high emissions intensity are the main contributors to this. Our LCAs have identified that 2/3 of global warming potential of a standard nitrile glove across its entire life cycle relates to energy use in the production (heat for the curing ovens and electricity). Therefore, targeting energy use in glove manufacturing presents a tremendous opportunity to reduce our environmental footprint.
Malaysia is by far the leading country of origin for rubber gloves with an estimated 65% share of the global supply. This is thanks to an unrivaled combination of expertise, R&D and an eco-system of sub-suppliers and capabilities developed across decades, making the Malaysian rubber gloves industry the most competitive in the world. The best gloves in the world come from Malaysia.
For these reasons, we believe that our efforts to decarbonize the glove value chain, should focus on Malaysia, where the products are made and where most of the emissions are generated. Evercare Medical has partnered with Business Sweden in Malaysia and their Pioneer the Possible initiative to investigate all possibilities to accelerate our Malaysian partners transitions towards energy efficiency and green manufacturing.
Team Sweden together with Penang Green Council, MGTC, and FMM Penang, organized Pioneer the Possible, Green Production in Penang Forum. The Pioneer the Possible concept is aimed to be a sustainability platform nurturing collaboration amongst Swedish and Malaysian companies and stakeholders.
Along with Evercare Medical AB, the event saw the participation of other Swedish companies, such as ABB, Atlas Copco, Nefab, and Monitor ERP.
"We are super proud to have you here as front runners in Malaysia," remarked Sweden's trade commissioner at Business Sweden, Emma Broms. “ We do not want to export our emissions to Malaysia. Instead we want to export Swedish technical excellence and engineering that will support Malaysia towards a sustainable transition”.
Thanks to this event, the Evercare Medical team together with our manufacturing partners in Malaysia, had the opportunity to develop connections with multiple participants in the event which we trust could be the start of fruitful collaborations with significant impact towards our common goals.
Picture 1: Emma Broms - Trade Commissioner of Sweden to Malaysia
Picture 2: Vivian Leong -Vice President ABB Motion, Khalid Shaikh - General Manager of Compressor Technique Atlas Copco Malaysia & Singapore, Mohammed Rashdan Yusof - Chariman Energy Comission, Ir. Mohd Razif Bin Abd Halim - Managing Director TNBX, Julien Rolland - Sustainability Director Asker Healthcare Group.
Picture 3: Alexander Cullin - Managing Director Evercare Medical.
Picture 4: H.E Dr Joachim Bergström, Ambassador, Embassy of Sweden to Malaysia and Yab Tuan Chow Kon Yeow - Chief Minister of Penang.
