💉 Eh, Da Kine Meds No Kaʻi Fo’ Da ʻĀina 🌱🌍

⬇️ Pidgin | ⬇️ ⬇️ English

Shoots, gang! 🌺 If you one kine person who stay using medical kine stuffs like dem inhalers or da EpiPens, gotta tell you, no look so maikaʻi for our Mother Earth, yeah? 🌏 These kine tings, they no can just throw inside da recycle bin, and das causing plenny pilikia for our planet. Some smart folks trying fo’ change that, but hard, yeah?

Back in da day, had one guy, Brian Brandell, who get diabetes. Had fo’ carry all kine old school syringes and insulin. Den, bam! 💥 Came dis game changer, one disposable insulin pen. Was like mana from heaven for him. But now, he stay thinking ’bout all da plastic he wen’ throw away, and he all bummed out thinking he doing bad kine stuff to da ʻāina. 🤷‍♂️

See, da world stay drowning in plastic. 🌊 This stuff is everywhere, messing with da oceans, making our ‘āina sick, and even heating up da planet. 🌡️ Even da health care peeps, they use choke plastic, and that’s just making tings worse.

But some companies, they trying for be pono, yeah? They like make less waste, use less plastic, or even find ways for recycle da stuff. But hard, cuz things like inhalers, syringes, even da simple kine tampon applicators, no can just throw um in da blue bin. 🚫♻️

Mitch Ratcliffe, one kine big boss for Earth911, say we stay in one jam. All these medical gadgets, they special size, get safety issues, and made from all kine mixed up materials. Hard for figure out how for take ’em apart and recycle proper.

Insulin pens, tho, everywhere like mongoose in da yard. 🐍 Novo Nordisk, one big-time company, make like 750 million of these buggahs a year, all in plastic. And guess where they all end up? Right in da trash. 🗑️

But check dis, Dr. Brandell, he stay trying for make a difference. He wen’ design one special tool for cut da insulin pens so can recycle ’em. Even tho’, da plastic still might not get recycled right, he stay trying for find better ways, maybe even use bamboo or something. 🎋

And da big kahunas in da medical world? They feeling da heat too. Novo Nordisk get big plans for cut down their carbon footprint, and they even trying for recycle used insulin pens in Denmark. But, getting people for change their ways, das one nuddah story. 🔄

Den get GSK, selling all kine inhalers. They had one program for take back used ones, but wasn’t too popular. Plus, da stuff inside da inhalers, worse for da climate than da plastic. They working on one better version, but gonna take time. ⏳

But no all doom and gloom, yeah? One company, Triumvirate Environmental, they turning medical waste into building materials. 🏗️ Cost more than just dumping ’em, but they making something useful outta da rubbish.

So, what we learn? We gotta be more akamai about da kine stuff we use, especially da medical kine. Every little bit helps, but need errybody for pitch in. Let’s malama da ʻāina, cuz no like end up with one junk pile where our beautiful islands used to be. 🌺🌴💚

---

NOW IN ENGLISH

💉 Aloha to Health, Aloha to da ‘Aina: Da Quest for Greener Medical Gadgets 🌿

In da world where we gotta take care of our health and our planet, da kine struggle is real, especially when it comes to those everyday medical gadgets we depend on, yeah? For folks who need their meds on the regular, like da insulin pens or them asthma puffers, da question is how we can stay healthy without making Mother Earth sick. 🌎

Back in da day, like in da 1970s, managing health conditions was kinda old school. Take Brian Brandell, for example, who grew up needing insulin for his Type 1 diabetes. He used to carry around glass syringes and insulin vials, real heavy kine stuff. But then, bam! In 1985, Novo Nordisk comes out with this slick disposable insulin pen. Game changer, for real. It was like mana from heaven for folks like Brian. 🙏

But fast forward to now, and we’re all getting wise to da fact that all this convenience comes with a price – and not just da kala you pay at da store. All that plastic from the pens and other medical gadgets? Not so good for da ‘aina. Brian, who’s spent his life working with medical devices, started feeling the weight of all that plastic he tossed. It’s like, to stay alive, we gotta hurt the planet. Kinda messed up, yeah? 🤔

The thing is, plastic is everywhere, causing all kine problems – choking our oceans, messing with ecosystems, and even adding to da climate change crisis. And let’s not even start on how much plastic da health care industry uses. We talking billions of pounds a year, and it’s only going up. 🌊

Now, some of these big companies are saying they’re trying to make things pono by finding ways to recycle or use less plastic. But for da regular Joe or Jane, it’s not so simple to recycle these medical gadgets. They’re made of all different materials, and some get kinda icky with use, so recycling centers no like touch them. 🚫♻️

Take insulin pens, for real popular with the diabetes ohana. Novo Nordisk made like 750 million of them in just one year! But these pens, they’re not made to be taken apart and recycled. Most end up in da trash, which is super pilikia (trouble).

So what we gonna do about it? Well, folks like Dr. Brandell are getting creative, designing gadgets to cut up these pens so maybe, just maybe, we can recycle some parts. But even then, it’s not easy. The type of plastic is high quality but hard to recycle. And Dr. Brandell is even thinking, “Eh, maybe we can make these gadgets out of something more eco-friendly, like bamboo?” 🎍

Meanwhile, big companies like Novo Nordisk are feeling the heat from the public to clean up their act. They’re talking about making their products with zero emissions by 2045, which is great, but we got a long way to go. They even started recycling programs for insulin pens in some places, but changing habits is hard, and not enough people are participating. 💔

And it’s not just insulin pens. Asthma inhalers, another huge deal, have their own set of problems. The propellants in them are super bad for global warming, and while some companies are trying to find alternatives, it’s a slow process. They’ve also tried recycling programs, but again, not enough takers. 🌡️

But not all hope is lost. Some companies are looking at turning medical waste into something useful, like building materials. It’s expensive and not perfect, but it’s a start. And hey, every little bit helps, right? 🏗️

So, while we all trying to live our best lives, healthy and strong, we also gotta think about keeping our planet healthy and strong too. It’s a big kuleana (responsibility), but together, we can make a difference. Aloha to health, and aloha to da ‘aina! 🌺🌿