Kimberly-Clark Health Care offers hospitals innovative recycling solution

28 March 2011

The new recycling program is a joint initiative by SITA-MediCollect (the specialised clinical waste business of SITA environmental Solutions) and Kimberly-Clark to educate hospitals and collect, recycle and recover unused KIMGUARD* Sterile Wrap and ONE-STEP* Sterile Wrap.

The program is available to hospitals across Australia that use KIMGUARD* Sterile wraps. Individual solutions will be tailor made for each hospital according to the volume of KIMGUARD* Sterile Wrap sent to recycling, as well as the storage capacity available onsite.

The process involves collecting used, clean, uncontaminated KIMGUARD* Sterile Wrap and ONE-STEP* Sterile Wrap for recycling. SITA-MediCollect will then offer to work with the hospital to review and assess the specific waste management and recycling options that are available according to their circumstances. Under the terms of the program, hospitals are not compelled to use SITA-MediCollect and are free to choose their waste/recycling provider if they wish.

The teams from Kimberly-Clark and SITA-MediCollect have worked closely together to develop this joint initiative.

“While we have long understood the need of hospitals to recycle KIMGUARD* Sterile Wrap as it's light, bulky, highly visible and also a great material to reprocess, creating a long term solution that is environmentally efficient and cost effective to both the hospital and the reprocessor has been logistically complex,” Senior Product Manager for Sterile Containment, Tina Brady said.

“Whilst there are companies in the marketplace with capability to do some of the processes, they are not able to offer a comprehensive service of collection, transportation and reprocessing. This has meant that there has been a gap in fully meeting the customer’s needs for a reliable, sustainable, recycling program for KIMGUARD* Sterile Wrap and ONE-STEP*.”

With a huge amount of research, time and effort, the new program will be offered to all hospitals nationally who are using KIMGUARD* Sterile Wrap and ONE-STEP* Sterile Wrap. It will provide a co-ordinated program with unique insight into the needs of CSSD and Waste Management Departments.

KIMGUARD* Sterile Wrap Sustainability Flyer