Milgro and Blue2Green join hands for better and circular solution.
As of October 2024, infectious medical waste can be decontaminated and recycled. This will bring a much better and circular solution to the market, as this type of waste still in most cases disappears into the incinerator. This major step forward is made possible by a collaboration between waste processor Milgro and Blue2Green, a specialist in innovative recycling techniques for the healthcare sector. The cooperation enables Milgro to further unburden its clients in the healthcare sector in sustainable waste management.
Both parties are committed to maximizing the value of waste streams, and with Blue2Green's latest solution, this will soon be possible with difficult-to-process infectious medical waste. Blue2Green is building an installation that can decontaminate and recycle this type of waste. This decontaminated waste will be recycled via a sorting line into high-quality raw materials that can more easily find their way back into the chain. In October 2024, the plant where medical waste is decontaminated and recycled will be ready for start-up.
Circular solution
Decontamination is the process by which heating destroys infections from medical waste, making it regular industrial waste after processing. This solution is more sustainable and circular than incineration. Through Milgro's healthcare clients, among others, Blue2Green will soon have a sizable stream of infectious medical waste to process. It involves more than 3,000 tons of needles, tissues, plastic tubes and everything else that disappears into wastebaskets within healthcare facilities.
Understanding performance for Green Deal Sustainable Care
Through its online dashboard, Milgro offers insight into the waste performance of medical centers and healthcare institutions in the Netherlands. This insight is important, given the agreements in the Green Deal Sustainable Care. It is the starting point to control waste streams and work towards a more circular healthcare sector. As part of the collaboration with Milgro, Blue2Green works with Milgro's dashboard to provide it with the right data. The dashboard then shows in fine detail the CO2 impact of choosing to recycle medical waste versus burning it.
Cees Duijn, senior waste management expert at Blue2Green: “It is unbelievable how much medical waste is still being incinerated, but eventually hospitals will choose a more sustainable way of processing medical waste and we can contribute to that. Currently, the processing of medical waste is too linear and we want to do something about that together with Milgro. The great thing about our cooperation is that we are complementary to each other. There is still a lot of work to be done, but decontamination and recycling must become the new standard. If we run at maximum capacity, we can save 2.6 kilotons of CO2 emissions annually, and reuse 75 percent of the raw materials that are currently wasted. Together we are taking a huge step toward a circular healthcare sector.”
Gijs Derks, director at Milgro: “The cooperation with Blue2Green opens new doors for us. With Blue2Green's latest solution, hardly any medical waste remains that cannot find its way back into the chain. The healthcare sector is facing an important turnaround. The increasing demand for care, combined with the need to reduce environmental impact, requires transformation. Our customers in the healthcare sector will soon be able to benefit from a double advantage; we can relieve them completely on all waste streams, including high-quality treatment for medical waste. I hope that with this collaboration we can shake up the industry and start a movement where circular economy becomes the standard.”
