Technical Absorbents
Techtextil North America

Free membership

Receive our weekly Newsletter
and set tailored daily news alerts.

Textiles Intelligence

Single-use medical nonwovens: the pros and cons

New report on the issue of single use medial nonwovens and their impact on the environment.

10th November 2023

Innovation in Textiles
 |  United Kingdom

Medical/Hygiene

Report summary

Single-use medical nonwovens are widely used in health care settings because they offer a number of advantages compared with reusable medical textiles. However, single-use medical nonwovens suffer a disadvantage in that they must be disposed of after use and such disposal can have an adverse impact on the environment.

The issue of single-use medical nonwovens is expected to be a focus of legislation in Europe under forthcoming EU regulations, and it is predicted that pressure will mount on hospitals in the EU to recycle single-use medical textiles or procure reusable and washable medical textiles. In the UK, Revolution-ZERO is supporting the adoption of reusable and washable medical textiles at NHS facilities and has recently installed an advanced laundry facility, called Zero-Decon, at a hospital in Wales.

There are several difficulties associated with recycling single-use medical textiles. In response, a number of pilot schemes for establishing circular supply chains have been launched. In Saudi Arabia, SABIC, a global chemicals company headquartered in Riyadh, continues to expand its Trucircle portfolio of polymers--which includes those made using bio-based waste and recycled polymers in the form of drop-in solutions--and it plans to increase its capacity for making Trucircle plastics to 1 mn tons by 2030.

In the UK, Thermal Compaction Group (TCG) has introduced its Sterimelt units at a handful of National Health Service (NHS) hospitals. These units are capable of processing waste surgical polypropylene wrap on-site into plastic bricks for conversion into products such as decking, fence posts and furniture.

Buy this report

Publisher: Textiles Intelligence

'Single-use medical nonwovens: the pros and cons'

22 pages, published in October 2023 

Report price: Euro 470.00; US$ 615.00 

Reports are supplied in PDF format only via email and can be purchased by credit card or via PayPal. Alternatively, readers can email their order and we will invoice accordingly and send their report by email upon receipt of payment.

To buy this report, please select one of the buttons below or email [email protected].

© Dreamstime

€470
$615
Latest Reports

Business intelligence for the fibre, textiles and apparel industries: technologies, innovations, markets, investments, trade policy, sourcing, strategy...

Find out more