Beyond the Ice Pack: How Innovative Cold Chain Devices Like Artyc’s Medstow Micro Advance Healthcare Sustainability
The healthcare sector is a major contributor to global carbon emissions, responsible for nearly 5% of total greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. As hospitals and research institutions like Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH) strive toward carbon neutrality, one often-overlooked area is the cold chain — specifically, how to maintain the cold temperature of medical samples, vaccines, and other critical supplies during transport.
A recent performance comparison by Artyc highlights just how outdated some of our methods are. Their Medstow Micro, an innovative active cooling device, outperformed traditional passive solutions like ice packs and dry ice in both temperature stability and duration. But beyond performance, what stands out is the sustainability impact.
Ice Packs and Dry Ice: More Harm Than Help?
Let’s unpack (pun intended) the status quo:
Ice packs require energy to freeze and are often discarded after a single use.
Dry ice (solid CO₂) sublimates quickly, necessitating frequent replenishment, and releases CO₂ directly into the atmosphere (Scope 1 emissions).
Many cold shippers are single-use Styrofoam containers—non-recyclable and landfill-bound (Scope 3 waste).
When shipments rely on emergency delivery vehicles, international flights, and high-emission packaging, the cold chain becomes a hidden hotspot of carbon impact. Multiply this by hundreds or thousands of biospecimen shipments per year at a large research hospital, and the emissions add up quickly.
Artyc’s Solution: A Better Way to Cool
Devices like the Medstow Micro offer:
Rechargeable active cooling that avoids dry ice or ice packs entirely.
Real-time monitoring and tracking that reduces waste and loss.
Reusable design with potential for closed-loop systems (return, recharge, reuse).
By transitioning to innovative, reusable cold chain systems, institutions can begin to tackle emissions across all three scopes:
Scope 1: Eliminate emissions from dry ice sublimation and internal combustion vehicles.
Scope 2: Reduce reliance on high-energy freezers used to prep ice packs.
Scope 3: Cut down on single-use packaging, reduce emergency transport, and shrink upstream manufacturing impacts.
BCH and the Bigger Picture
At Boston Children’s Hospital, our Green Labs program has already piloted efforts to rethink shipping waste, from recycling ice packs to diverting lab plastics. Incorporating devices like the Medstow Micro could represent the next evolution in sustainable lab logistics. It supports not only operational efficiency, but also our broader commitment to achieving net-zero by 2050.
As we explore vendors and technologies aligned with our sustainability goals, innovations like Artyc’s give us hope—and a clear path—to a cooler, cleaner future.