Uvisan’s smallest full-power UV-C cabinet, disinfect and charge up to two headsets.
Cleanroom™ Whole-room, safe, programmable disinfection, in just 10 minutes.
Uvisan’s smallest full-power UV-C cabinet, disinfect and charge up to two headsets.
Cleanroom™ Whole-room, safe, programmable disinfection, in just 10 minutes.
Uvisan has recently concluded a case study alongside a leading waste management company on the efficacy of UVC disinfection in waste management. This isn’t the first time that UVISAN has discussed the benefits of UVC disinfection over traditional cleaning wipes. In fact, you can find previous studies on wipes versus UVC cleaning here. However, this study delves deep into the numbers when it comes to killing bacteria on shared devices and the impact of UVC in waste management specifically.
UVISAN’s cabinets use UVGI (Ultraviolet Germicidal Irradiation), a type of disinfection that uses ultraviolet light (UVC) to kill microorganisms and pathogens. The medical grade UVGI lamps used in the cabinets produce short-wave ultraviolet light that is scientifically proven to kill bacteria, spores, viruses, protozoans, molds and yeasts. UVISAN’s cabinets can be used to disinfect many different types of appliances and equipment. This includes phones, laptops, tablets, peripherals, headsets, as well as clothing and accessories (including PPE).
On this occasion, the tests were carried out on shared devices, namely gas monitors and radios, to measure the effectiveness of UVC technology over traditional forms of disinfection. There were two protocols for the test. In the first, the results of micro reduction on the devices were measured by taking swabs from an untreated device. Then swabs were taken after disinfection with wipes and again after UVC disinfection. In the second protocol, the swabs were taken from an untreated device and then after UVISAN’s UVC treatment only.
In waste management operations where waste management sanitation is critical, UV‑C disinfection offers superior microbial kill rates compared to conventional wipes. Traditional cleaning relies on inconsistent manual coverage and leaves residue, whereas UV‑C light uniformly penetrates surfaces of radios, gas monitors, and other shared tools, delivering fast, chemical-free sanitation with consistent results. The technology significantly reduces cross-contamination and downtime, delivering both efficiency and safety in sanitation protocols.
Uvisan conducted a rigorous case study on UV‑C in waste management with a leading waste management firm, focusing on shared equipment including gas monitors and radios. Two testing protocols were deployed: one comparing traditional wipe cleaning to UV‑C disinfection, and another isolating UV‑C treatment. Swab sampling results revealed that UVC technology achieved significantly greater microbial reduction, validating its effectiveness for shared equipment sanitation in operationally critical environments.
There were two testing protocols with 5 samples for each:
Protocol 1 – Swabs were taken from:
Protocol 2 – Swabs were taken from:
(The widely-used CFU method (a colony-forming unit), was used to estimate the number of viable bacteria or fungal cells in a sample. Swab results verified – One Scientific Ltd.)
During the study, the wiping stage took 30 seconds (twice as long as an average user would take) and new wipes were used for each device. Devices 1 to 5 were heavily covered by soiling/organic matter, and after 30 seconds treatment with wipes there were still visible isolated dirt clusters.
Devices 6 to 10 were less contaminated, but still showed noticeable soiling/organic matter build up. As the graphs illustrate, some of the devices had the maximum microbiological load detectable by the testing method of 10,000 CFU. On one of the devices where this was the case, using wipes alone showed a 0% micro reduction.
In the first protocol, the average micro reduction after using disinfecting wipes was 42.4%. In comparison, the average for UVC showed a result of 92.7%, and this shot up to 97.2% in the second protocol. The highest micro reduction seen on a device with wipes alone was 84%. This is only 1% higher than UVC’s lowest result in the whole study (the micro reduction on the same device using UVC disinfection was 96.8%).
Even more remarkably, during protocol 2, device 10 saw a 100% micro reduction with UVC. This means that even one of the most soiled devices ended up showing the highest reduction rate with UVC treatment alone. For this protocol, the lowest result that micro reduction achieved was 96%.
The most obvious takeaway from this study is that in both protocols UVC shows superior efficacy over disinfection wipes. This means that in the future, when a device shows visible dirt and soiling, the best course of action would be to remove the dirt with a (more environmentally friendly) microfibre cloth, and then use UVC treatment for best results.
The UVC cabinets are especially useful when it comes to environments where high volumes of people need to use shared equipment, with a fast turnaround between usage. In contrast, traditional processes of disinfection (such as wipes) can be slow and laborious, which can cause issues when equipment is required quickly after each use in environments such as schools, universities, exhibitions, arcades and parks etc. You can read more about how the efficiency of UVISAN’s cabinets have helped in these types of environments here and here.
To implement UV‑C disinfection effectively in waste management operations:
Method Efficacy Time Residue Cost (Long-Term)
Traditional Wipes Moderate Slow Yes High (wasteful)
UV-C Disinfection High Fast No. Low (sustainable)
The Uvisan case study demonstrates that UV‑C disinfection is a game-changer for waste management sanitation, particularly when sanitizing shared equipment like radios and monitors. With UVC technology, businesses can achieve higher safety standards, reduce downtime, and eliminate chemical usage. As operations evolve, integrating UV‑C in waste management and replacing traditional methods can lead to safer, more efficient, and cost-effective hygiene protocols.
Check out our main site here for more about our UV-C disinfection cabinets, or why not read another of our articles below.
Uvisan Limited
Kingswood House South Road
Bristol BS15 8JF