INNOVATION | PVC
PVC materials recycled by RecoMed Source: RecoMed
Medical recycling Established in 2014, RecoMed, which is funded by VinylPlus, was originally a pilot collection scheme to assess the feasibility of collecting PVC medical devices from hospitals in the UK. The aim was, and continues to be, to divert typically clean, medical grade PVC material from disposal by landfill or energy from waste, to recycling. RecoMed was designed by Axion Group and is managed in partnership with the British Plastics Federation, which provides valuable support liaising with funding partners and promoting RecoMed within the plastics industry. There is significant potential for medical PVC
Right: RecoMed pedal bin at Bristol Royal Infirmary
recycling in the UK. “We currently have 42 hospitals that are actively participating in the scheme drawn from 15 separate NHS Trusts, and there are more than 100 hospitals on our waiting list representing a further 87 Trusts,” says Mick Claes, Senior Consultant at Axion. “There is great potential to expand the scheme within these Trusts, as well as within the private sector such as to in-home oxygen therapy providers.”
He continues: “In 2019, over 9,000 kg of PVC
masks and tubing were collected and recycled through RecoMed. This equates to over 300,000 oxygen masks, a huge number of individual actions by enthusiastic NHS staff willing to contribute towards sustainable healthcare. The total amount collected and recycled through the scheme is now over 24 tonnes – equivalent to over 800,000 masks – since 2014 with the majority of material collected in the last three years. It is estimated that a 300-bed hospital could recycle 2.5 tonnes of PVC medical devices each year.” In April 2021, a new fee structure will be intro-
duced, which will work on a membership subscrip- tion basis. The first hospital in a Trust pays £500
28 PLASTICS RECYCLING WORLD | November/December 2020
www.plasticsrecyclingworld.com
annually and each additional hospital in the Trust that joins pays £200. The first ten collections are free of charge, after which collections cost £30 per time. This fee structure will help support the expansion of the scheme to other hospitals. “Before rolling out the scheme in a hospital, the clinical staff are given training to help them understand what they need to do and the impor- tance of recycling these medical devices,” says Claes. “They are shown what to do with the masks and tubing and we highlight the benefits of diverting this clean, easily recyclable high grade polymer up the waste hierarchy, away from disposal routes which are under immense pressure with clinical waste. RecoMed provides the hospital with dedicated pedal bins for the collection of PVC medical devices, such as oxygen masks, oxygen tubing and anaesthetic masks. Where possible the staff remove any non-PVC elements such as metal clips to prepare the items for recycling. The pedal bins are emptied on a regular basis with the bag being taken down to a larger pallet crate held in the waste yard. Once the pallet crate is filled, the hospital’s facilities team emails RecoMed to request a collection.”
He continues: “Once the material has been collected it is taken to a sorting facility where any remaining non-PVC components are removed. The PVC items are then hand sorted by colour and rigidity, and granulated into a flake. Our sorting facility is supported by a partnership with HM Prison Service and the New Futures Network, a specialist part of the prison service that brokers partnerships between prisons and employers. The men and women sorting the PVC material work towards earning relevant [UK qualifications provider] WAMITAB qualifications, helping them
IMAGE: RECOMED
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