A LOCAL company has been refining an innovative process to recycle surgical sterilisation wrap, collaborating with Hamilton Hospital and Nigretta of Hamilton to potentially expand the technique across the country.

Utilising the locality of the hospital’s resources, and Nigretta of Hamilton which provides employment opportunities for people with disabilities in Hamilton, Sustainable Plastic Solutions (SPS) is hoping to inspire similar initiatives across the country to contribute to a circular economy. 

Sterilisation wrap is commonly used to prepare surgical instruments and is made up of polypropylene, which can be efficiently recycled for other uses.

Hamilton Hospital environmental sustainability officer, Heinz de Chelard said that every surgical procedure produced around two garbage bags full of sterilisation wrap in Hamilton, and - as the product is one of the only materials in the hospital that can be recycled - it provided a great opportunity.

“It makes both an environmental and social difference - and the fact that this can all be done within Hamilton is fantastic,” he said.

“It has the potential to expand across the country.”

Once the sterilisation wrap leaves the hospital, it is sent to workers at Nigretta of Hamilton where the tape is taken off.

It is then baled and sent to the SPS plant where it can be processed and recycled into an array of items such as decorative lattice, fence framing or even plastic flooring in shearing sheds, with the ability to be re-recycled. 

Sustainable Plastic Solutions R+D and quality, Elisha Nettleton said that initially when they were contacted by the hospital about recycling the fabric, they were unsure about the suitability of recycling the material as the leftover tape blocks the filtering process.

“We parked it for a while, but then the hospital said, ‘do you think if the tape was taken off you could do it,’” she said.

“We told them ‘yes - but we don’t have the staffing and the cost is too high for us to take it off’.

“We had worked with Nigretta of Hamilton previously for another project and they had done an amazing job, and they were more than happy to help again.

“That was the only obstacle with the tape - once it was off it was a no-brainer for us.

“It also gives Nigretta of Hamilton another job they can do for their participants, and we have had such a good experience with them that we are happy for materials to come here because they are so good at following the brief.”

Ms Nettleton also said that they hoped to inspire similar initiatives across the country - to show that a country town like Hamilton can create an efficient system to recycle products that would otherwise end up in landfill.

“It gives the hospital a chance - it’s hard for hospitals to recycle things because most of the stuff has touched people and it has to go to landfill,” she said.

“However, this is one of the things the hospital can recycle so we should be taking advantage of that.

“I think it is really amazing if Hamilton can be the case study for how to do it, so a hospital in Geelong could use one of social enterprises over there and use the same system.

“It’s not that they (other hospitals) don’t want to do it, it’s usually that they don’t know how, so we have been reaching out to a few organisations.

“We are happy for people to contact us if they are looking for solutions and we can work through how to make it happen.”