Waste Kimguard® is inert in landfills – like a candle.
Hospital waste
As a leading health and hygiene company, Kimberly-Clark Australia produces a wide range of products for health care professionals and patients, from protective apparel to medical devices.
Our first priority is the safety of patients and health care staff. Our products help hospitals and other health care providers achieve optimum hygiene and safety at minimum cost. Find out more about our health care products and services.
Hospitals generate clinical waste, and we should not ignore the environmental issues associated with that waste. However, environmental impact can be reduced significantly through sensible waste management.
Waste segregation to reduce cost
The best way to manage safe and cost-effective waste disposal is through segregation of wastes into “contaminated” and “general” wastes.
This way, the general waste can be disposed of cost-effectively through normal means and taken to landfill, and contaminated waste can be handled and treated safely before disposal in landfill.
Disposable products and the environment
Single use, or disposable, health care products help hospitals avoid the environmental problems with laundry and sterilising operations associated with traditional products, which consume chemical and energy resources and emit waste water and greenhouse gases.
What happens to disposable products after they’re used?
Hospitals dispose of their waste differently depending on whether the product is contaminated or general waste.
Contaminated wastes
If a product has become soiled with blood or other body fluids, it’s treated as ‘contaminated waste’, and either incinerated or treated chemically and landfilled as general waste.
Disposal by incineration
Kimberly-Clark’s Kimguard® Sterile Wrap, Drapes and Surgical Gowns, for example, can be safely incinerated. They are made of polypropylene, an inert polymer derived from petrochemicals. Polypropylene does not contain the element chlorine, which can be of concern in incineration.
Complete combustion of Kimberly-Clark polypropylene generates heat (similar to oil or candle wax) and forms water vapour and carbon dioxide, leaving a very small residue of ash.
Incinerator operators value the high energy content of our wrap and gowns as it helps combustion with wet wastes.
Chemical treatment
Another option is to chemically treat the polypropylene so that it’s safe to go into landfill.
General waste
When Kimberly-Clark’s surgical gowns or wraps are not contaminated they can be disposed of in general waste. The low cost of this disposal route is preferred to help conserve the health care dollar.
General waste is normally landfilled in Australia. Modern practice requires that all waste is covered at the end of the day or sooner to maintain hygiene. Polypropylene is an inert material, rather like candle wax, and does not cause any chemical contamination in the landfill.
Hospital waste in total is only 0.6% of the landfill waste stream, with gowns and wraps are only a very small part of that 0.6%.
More detailed information is available in the article “A balanced view of hospital wastes” at our Health Care site.