Single-use plastic. It’s everywhere.
Healthcare items such as gloves, surgical equipment and a great many other single-use items are a major environmental problem around the globe. Their use in the medical field has increased drastically and we lack a method to recycle them. Attempts are being made, however. For instance, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden are reporting how some medical waste can be recycled safely and efficiently. The technique: Plastic materials are heated and converted into chemical building blocks, which can then be used in new plastic.
Anyone who works in healthcare knows the amount of plastic waste is staggering. In some cases the waste is incinerated—which has its own problems—and in many countries it ends up in landfills. According to a Chalmers news release, “Disposable healthcare items usually consist of several types of plastic that cannot be recycled with today’s technology. In addition, the items must be considered contaminated after use, [so] they must be handled so that risks of spreading potential infections are avoided. When it comes to the production of single-use healthcare items, it is also not possible to use recycled plastic, since the requirements for purity and quality are so high for materials intended for medical use.”
Chalmers researchers claim that these issues can be addressed by a method they developed called “thermochemical recycling.” This method is based on a process called “steam cracking,” wherein waste is broken down by mixing it with sand at about 1,472 degrees Fahrenheit. The plastic molecules convert into gas and can be used for new plastic. The method is like a “thermal sledgehammer,” according to Martin Seemann, associate professor at Chalmers’ Division of Energy Technology. The “thermal sledgehammer” doesn’t just smash the molecules: It also destroys bacteria and other microorganisms. “What is left are different types of carbon and hydrocarbon compounds,” Seemann said. “These can then be separated and used in the petrochemical industry, to replace fossil materials that are currently used in production.”
The researchers have tested products such as gloves and face masks. They also made a mixture that represents typical hospital waste of about 10 different plastic materials, as well as cellulose, according to the news release. The results were encouraging in each project.
One of the projects was led by Judith González-Arias, now at the University of Seville in Spain. “What makes this technology so exciting is its ability to handle the environmental challenges that we associate with medical disposables,” González-Arias said. “Thermochemical recycling not only addresses the problem that medical waste is not recycled today, but also facilitates the recovery of valuable carbon atoms. This is fully in line with the principles of the circular economy and provides a sustainable solution to the urgent issue of medical waste management.”
There’s more to it than that, however, so we’ll revisit this exciting topic in our May editor’s letter (the April editor’s letter will be devoted to the digestion-friendly diet of FODMAPs). In the meantime, let’s do what we can to reduce single-use plastics at home and at work, even if we don’t have a thermal sledgehammer.
