Smart plastic Hydropol reduces cytotoxic linen waste

When you think of waste what is the first thing that comes to mind? Coffee Cups… Plastic Bags… Straws? Cytotoxic Linen probably wasn’t the first thing that came to mind. The Smart Plastic Hydropol has enabled Cytotoxic Linen to be bagged and identified without exposing hospital teams to the Cytotoxic Linen. This has reduced the high cost and waste of Cytotoxic Linen.

NSWHealth defines Cytotoxic Linen as linen that has been indirectly contaminated by the bodily fluids of a patient who has received chemotherapy in the last 7 days. Prior to the creation of the Water Soluble Cytotoxic Laundry Bag nurses would place linen that was used during cancer treatment into a clinical waste bag that was then incinerated.

DB Packaging partnered with NSWHealth and Linen Services to design a product that would enable the linen to be reused without exposing team members to the cytotoxic agent.

The Water Soluble Cytotoxic Laundry Bag allows nurses to bag the Cytotoxic Linen on site. Linen Services team members are able to clearly identify the cytotoxic linen and place it in a separate wash cycle. During the wash cycle the bag completely breaks down and leave no residue or toxins in the water. Contaminated linen then reenters the normal wash cycle.

Hydropol has allowed NSWHealth and Linen Services to reduce the negative impacts that cytotoxic linen has been having on the environment. Nurses using the best practice outlined by NSWHealth will drastically reduced the exposure of the cytotoxic linen to NSWHealth and Linen Services team members.

The collaboration of DB Packaging, NSWHealth and Linen Services is only one of many stories of new Smart Materials being used to reduce waste. As DB Packaging continues to work with different industries we are able to continue to reduces waste and introduce Smart Materials to the Australian and New Zealand market.

Find out more about the latest products from DB Packaging (stand C59) at AWRE 2018 from 29-30 August at ICC Sydney, register free.