International Coastal Clean-Up Day

Did you know within the last year the pandemic has nearly doubled the production of medical waste worldwide?

The CPAPnation family wants to bring awareness and share some ideas on how CPAP users can help make small changes in their daily routine that can lead to monumental changes on the environment!

Based on reports from The World Health Organization (WHO), the United States alone produces more "than 5 million tons of waste each year"*!!! 

Due to this rising concern, environmentalists, ecologist, and healthcare professionals are trying to bring awareness to the issue in hopes of moving forward into an environmentally conscious field.  

A small way you can help is to use less cleaning supplies and instead use a sanitizing unit. A great option for not only our CPAP users, but anyone concerned about the health and safety of themselves and their loved ones, is the Lumin CPAP Mask & Accessories Sanitizer.  

This device uses UV-C light to disinfect CPAP masks and water chambers! Within 5 minutes, the Lumin delivers a powerful amount of UV light inside a fail-safe chamber to kill 99% of harmful bacteria, viruses, mold, and fungus. 

This unit is also effective on common household objects, such as children’s toys, toothbrushes, car keys and cellphones.

It is also pivotal to your health that you make sure that you are disposing and cleaning your CPAP supplies as recommended below: 

Due to the nature of your supplies, they have a high likelihood to attract germs that can make you sick, especially if your immune system is weak.

So how can I be more environmentally concise if I need to replace my supplies on a regular basis?  

Bottom-line, reusing CPAP hoses increases health risks, which is not a good thing. 

Soo...If I can't reuse my old CPAP supplies then what can I do?  

Make it Fun!  

Use your creativity to try fun crafts instead of throwing your old supplies away. Here are some fun ways you can help make OSA therapy greener!   

In honor of spooky season just around the corner, try saving your old tubing (after washing) to create a Halloween costume. For example, use an old CPAP hose to be an octopus for Halloween.

Not only will everyone love your look, but our fishy friends will be a little extra grateful!

If dressing up is not your thing...  

Gardening is a great way to use some of your old supplies. Water conservation and sustainability are huge for environmental health.

Try using your CPAP equipment and creating a way of watering your plants. A fun project using a recycled hose is creating your own irrigation system for your home garden.  

And if you don’t have an at home garden yet …. 

You can try to create one by growing some plants, then you can cut up old tubing to plant a beautiful garden.

It is more important than ever to be aware of the impacts of medical waste on the environment while still receiving optimal medical care and treatment.

We hope you can make a few small changes a day to help make big changes to our environment.

Tag us! We would love to see your work! #cpapnationcares

 *https://practicegreenhealth.org/topics/waste/waste-0