WASTE MANAGEMENT
England’s first PP recycling unit proving its worth
Innovative ways to recycle plastics have become a high profile and necessary part of sustainable development. Here James Chadwick, head of Facilities and Capital Developments – Burton Campuses, explains how he and a team at University Hospitals of Derby and Burton NHS Foundation Trust (UHDB) have worked with Thermal Compaction Group (TCG), a Cardiff-based sustainable waste solutions specialist, to implement what is reportedly England’s first healthcare sector polypropylene recycling unit.
At the the 2017 Hospital Innovations event in London, Thermal Compaction Group was promoting and showcasing its new machine and technology, Sterimelt, via which it claimed to have resolved the issue of how to sustainably recycle single-use polypropylene wraps in the hospital environment. Recognising the potential for the Sterilmelt technology, and envisaging some significant benefits to the Trust and the NHS in general if it takes off, we decided to explore the new concept from TCG, and invited the company to look at working with us at UHDB to help develop its concept further while the Trust got the benefits of its solution.
Back when it all started, the first used sterilisation wraps were 140 thread count muslin cloth. These ticked all the boxes, as they were easily draped over the instrument trays, inexpensive, reusable, and absorbent. A disadvantage, however, is that with them being a woven cloth, they did not provide complete protection against microbial penetration, and only allowed the sets to be stored for 21-28 days. To help limit any contamination of the instruments and keep them sterile, the double sequential wrapping process was adopted. The next development was a single-use cellulose wrap, but while this addressed the microbial concerns and extended the shelf life acceptance of the sterile set to 12 months, the wrap didn’t provide the required durability. Polypropylene thus became the material of choice for instrument wraps, and is still used today.
where it is subject to high heat delivered from the autoclaves in the Sterile Services Department.
The Sterimelt machine – developed by the Thermal Compaction Group.
A day-to-day consumer product Polypropylene is in many of the consumer products we use day to day – for example in straws, yoghurt containers, polymer bank notes, stationery, automotive parts, and textiles, to name just a few. However, if it is not handled properly it can be toxic. It is generally used because it is an extremely durable material that does not wear away over time, rust, or react with water detergents, acids, or chemical solvents like concrete and steel do. Equally, its heat resistance allows it to be used in sterile situations, such as
Millions of tonnes of plastic waste are generated annually, of which only about 25 per cent is recycled or upscaled, and indeed each year the UHDB Burton campuses alone use in excess of 59,000 polypropylene wraps, equating to about 16 tonnes of material. These wraps are used by our in-house Sterile Services team to maintain the sterile environment of the instruments during transportation and storage, keeping them surgically sterile until point of use. Once the instruments have been used, they, along with the tray and opened wrap, are then sent back to the Sterile Services unit for cleaning and disposal. Now, instead of these wraps going into the waste streams, they are separated into storage bins, before being collected and sent over to our recycling hub, where they are checked for foreign objects, and the sterile autoclave tape and labels removed, as they are not polypropylene. The wraps are then separated into types ready for reprocessing.
Developed to meet a specific need The Sterimelt machine was developed after Thermal Compaction Group identified the potential to decrease the amount of single-use disposable plastic used by the NHS. The machine takes costly used surgical wraps and melts them down using a process that converts them into a solid polypropylene material.
The Queen’s Hospital, Burton, where the Sterimelt machine was installed on 22 March this year. 60 Health Estate Journal October 2018
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