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.