Over the past five years or so, some 95 healthcare facilities across Australia and New Zealand have started to recycle PVC medical products and other recyclables used in the delivery of healthcare services. The PVC Recycling in Hospitals program has been something of a world first – now being adopted in the UK, North America and South Africa - driven by passionate medical staff concerned by the growing consumption and waste of resources in the healthcare sector.

Our program has shown the enormous will of staff to do at work what they do at home – recycle. It has paved the way to recover and recycle other plastics and materials from healthcare. However, working with these hospitals to put systems and infrastructure in place to allow recycling has highlighted some challenges in the design of these buildings.

When it comes to hospital development, waste management is not a top design priority (nor should it be compared to patient comfort and outcomes), but as a building type, hospitals generate significant - and growing - volumes of waste: food, plastics, metals, glass, paper and cardboard. And this waste generation represents a sizeable operational cost over the building lifetime.

The World Health Organisation has found that high income countries like Australia produce over 3.3 kg of waste per bed per day, 85 percent of which is generally non-hazardous / non-infectious waste. A metropolitan general hospital in the US is estimated to produce a whopping 10.7kg per occupied bed per day of which almost 8kg is general waste.

In part, this waste generation has been driven by improved infection control which has led to increasing adoption of single-use, disposal medical products. Much of this is plastic material and 30-40 percent of that is PVC. These items, such as oxygen masks and tubing, fluid solution bags, bottles and containers, are treated as general waste in Australia, and have traditionally gone to landfill at a cost to the hospital.

Our older hospitals were not designed to cater for this growth in waste. As we found in developing the PVC recycling program, buildings had insufficient floor space for placement of bins in medical areas; lacked interim storage space for bins of collected waste and had loading docks that were clearly struggling to cater for the growing volumes of various waste streams. In one case, the depot ceiling height was even too low to allow entry of today’s larger waste collection trucks!

If healthcare facilities are going to meet commitments to waste management principles, they need to implement comprehensive systems to facilitate segregation of wastes at source in medical areas and the safe movement of waste through the hospital to the loading dock for transportation away from the site.

Under current Australasian Health Facilities Guidelines, a typical 14m2 dirty utility room – the largest specification - in a general hospital might have space allowed for just two 240 litre bins, one of which would probably need to be for clinical waste. If hospitals are to collect and segregate waste streams effectively at source i.e. in the medical area, then appropriate space is required for suitable bins: clinical waste, PVC, general waste, and other recyclable streams. This has been a challenge for virtually every hospital we have worked with.

It requires forward thinking design of safe and efficient systems for collecting, handling, storing, transporting, treating, recycling and disposing of healthcare wastes. This encompasses:

• Location and size of waste storage rooms
• Holding areas (eg dirty utility rooms) sufficient for segregated waste streams close to where waste is generated
• Internal waste movement routes (separated from high people movement and sensitive areas)
• Layout and design of loading docks with space for balers and compactors, recycling bins, waste treatment, hazardous waste storage, bin and trolley cleaning, transport access etc

As recycling of consumables in healthcare grows, this means planning up front as hospitals upgrade or are built new, estimating waste generation volumes, types of waste and the types and numbers of bins to accommodate it, as well as identifying the departments that will recover and segregate waste streams for recycling.

Design of sustainable healthcare facilities today has come a long way in terms of infection control and improving comfort and outcomes for patients. But let’s make healthcare waste management a carefully integrated part of that system to avoid the potential public health and environmental consequences of waste generation.

We live in a chlorine economy

We live in a chlorine economy. And, no, it’s not all about vinyl.

Yes, vinyl is composed of two simple building blocks – one of which is chlorine (the other is ethylene, from natural gas). But chlorine, which is based on simple salt, is used in a very wide range of products far beyond those made of vinyl.

Chlorine is a key building block in everything from automotive components to firefighters’ clothing. You can find chlorinated compounds in wetsuits (neoprene rubber from chloropropene). It’s used for everything from water treatment to erasers (thio-chloride curing agents used in some rubbers).

These sectors depend on chlorine chemistry: health care, transportation, building and construction, defense and law enforcement, and the food and water sectors all rely on chlorine derivatives and chlorinated chemicals.

Chlorine is versatile, and it plays well with other chemicals to create some pretty cool stuff. In fact, did you know that chlorine chemistry plays a role in components for wind turbines and solar panels?

It’s also part of the chemistry in aerospace components and high-precision lasers and environmentally friendly coolants. All these products rely on chlorine chemistry and the multitude of chlorinated chemicals and compounds.

Here’s some other items that rely on chlorine chemistry at some point in the manufacturing process:

•     computers
•     smartphones
•     cosmetics
•     mirrors
•     window screens
•     mattress covers
•     blankets
•     nonstick cookware
•     sportswear
•     golf bags
•     artificial glass
•     guitar strings
•     bulletproof vests
•     tires
•     batteries

The Chlorine Tree, prepared by American Chemistry Council Chlorine Chemistry Division, shows the breath and scope of chlorine’s use and demonstrates just how critical the chemical is to manufacturing – and how it exists at the core of many products. Without it, what would you miss most?

Breakthroughs with recycling advertising banners in Australia

For several months, a dedicated team led by the Vinyl Council has been making progress with the challenges of recycling advertising billboard skins. The team has achieved critical breakthrough results, some world ‘firsts’ and gained positive support from industry.

Currently over 1,200,000 m² (500 tonnes) of advertising billboard skins go to landfills around Australia every year at a significant cost to business and as a waste of durable materials. Having promoted the latest blockbuster movie or a government safety message, the skins take up valuable space in landfills.

The challenge is that the skins are made of two excellent polymers (vinyl as a coating over woven polyester) which are hard to separate and reprocess - which is exactly why they are so suited for all weathers and conditions; they are UV and tear-resistant, waterproof, colour-fast, can be welded and are very tough. This is similar for other vinyl coated fabrics, including truck tarpaulins and grain covers, all of which currently go to landfill in Australia (total over 6,000 tonnes combined per year) and in most countries around the world.

In Europe, there is a €20M plant used to reprocess such material back to its constituent polymers. That solvent-based technology is not viable in Australia so the only option is to innovate and find economically viable alternative approaches and new products.

To support the research into this challenge, earlier this year the NSW Environment Trust has invested together with industry to enable collaboration between a team of keen and brilliant minds.

“Our team comprises skilled research assistants in chemistry at UNSW, industrial designers at Monash University, highly experienced PVC converters at Welvic Australia, innovative and successful manufacturers in PMG Engineering, and supplier Rojo Pacific who is keen to lead the advertising industry to a more sustainable future” explains Helen Millicer, Manager of the Industry Recycling Strategy at the Vinyl Council of Australia.

Together, the Vinyl Council and the Outdoor Media Association are providing industry-wide engagement and coordination.

“This problem is too big to do it alone and therefore we are delighted to have received funding support from the NSW Environment Trust as part of the NSW EPA’s Waste Less, Recycle More initiative” Helen added.

“A grant like this, that supports innovation and reprocessing in Australia, is a game changer. It means that we can manage a focused and properly resourced project with contributing partners to find viable products and end-market alternatives and thereby prevent loss of quality material to landfill.”

The outcome of the funded trials, research and testing has led to two innovative Australian mechanical recycling technologies, one of which is proceeding to patent.

Product design students on the team have produced several prototype industrial designs taking advantage of the features of the material, including highway sound barriers, children’s push bikes, and floor safety mats. Trials have also worked with cut, woven and reformed material and material welded into molds to create a stronger fabric skin. Reprocessed material has been trialled for 3-D printing in another world ‘first’.  

These developments have already led to specifications for a packaging product for trial with a major multinational company.

“Importantly, companies in the advertising industry met at an Industry Forum in Sydney in October and have given the green light to continue the project, to collaborate and contribute to finding a viable solution for recycling billboard skins in Australia”.

“We are delighted to have a team of brilliant minds, innovators and leaders in their fields contributing their time, expertise and facilities to find low cost solutions to this world-wide problem and sad waste of materials,” said Helen Millicer.

To complete the project in the next few months, the design prototypes will be finished and exhibited. A report will be published summarising the economics of collection, reprocessing and remaking of the billboard skins and the chemical and mechanical test results.

While this project has focussed on advertising banners in the first instance, it leads to the possibility of applying findings to other coated fabrics.  

For more information and photos contact:
Helen Millicer, Project Manager, Industry Recycling Strategy, Vinyl Council of Australia This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.,
0413 875 872, www.vinyl.org.au and http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/grants/2015-problem-waste.htm

Lifting construction industry productivity and efficiency

A May 2016 report from the World Economic Forum titled Shaping the Future of Construction: A Breakthrough in Mindset and Technology highlighted the “moral obligation” of the engineering and construction industry to lift its game in terms of productivity and efficiency.

With aging infrastructure in developed countries and the needs of a rapidly growing urban population in developing regions, combined with the scale of resource consumption, emissions and waste currently existing in the construction sector, the industry has vast potential to make significant economic, social and environmental contributions. However, at a global level, productivity in the sector has remained largely stagnant for decades.

The WEF report discusses what holds the industry back and the risks of market disruption. It also speaks to the opportunities that already exist to improve project delivery and life cycle performance of the built environment through adoption of digitalisation; the take up of innovative technologies, materials and tools; and the use of new construction techniques and processes.

An “extremely powerful lever for innovation is that of construction materials” the report stated. The industry is the largest global consumer of raw materials (50 per cent of global steel production and more than 3 billion tonnes of raw materials). The built environment is also a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. This surely presents great opportunities for disruptive technologies. Advanced building materials will allow us to do more with less, using better, lean building processes.

Examples are given, including new material combinations with additional multi-functional characteristics; standardised, modular and prefabricated construction and just-in-time pull of resources.

With this is mind, it is good to see Australian manufacturing capacity in PVC permanent formwork systems continues to grow strongly as this construction technology gains ground and contributes to productivity gains.

Carlos Cagliero of Verve Constructions is managing a project which made a last-minute decision to switch to Vinyl Council member, AFS System's PVC permanent formwork wall construction, illustrating the potential efficiencies that can be gained through this emerging construction technology.

Stage 1 of a 407-apartment multi-residential project in Bundoora, Victoria, the project’s three-level basement was originally designed with precast concrete panels. However, it soon became apparent that this would require a turnaround of about four weeks to cover the development and review of shop drawings, production of panels and delivery of the panels to the site. This was problematic as it would cause a delay to the construction program, so Cagliero looked for another solution that would still meet the structural drawing requirements. He selected polymer-based permanent formwork.

As a result, there was a dramatic improvement in lead time as no shop drawings were required, the product was delivered to site in five days from order, and no cranes were required to install it. It required no contractor training for handling and construction, although like use of any new product, it required a little time to get going, Cagliero said. However, from order to completion took just two weeks.

“It resolved the problem and importantly allowed us to maintain our construction program,” Cagliero said.

Approximately 1600 square metres of the extruded PVC formwork was used to construct the basement walls and the lift core to ground level. Compliant to AS3600, this type of wall system is continuously reinforced. As a major benefit, no waterproofing was required despite a large retaining wall section. No caulking of joints was necessary either.

Also saving time was the fact that 70 per cent of the formwork has been left exposed in the basement areas, Cagliero added. After being cleaned off, the white panels are more attractive than blockwork and more reflective from a lighting perspective, he said, so it needed no painting in these areas.

Around the three levels of the basement lift core, it is “working perfectly” Cagliero explained, as it merged with the precast concrete panels above because the two systems are the same thickness, and the Macrender used on the PVC panels here has come up well, he added.

As this project – now a month away from completion – has shown, permanent PVC formwork can significantly improve construction productivity by reducing lead times and reducing installation costs, processes and time.

This type of wall system is most suited to basement scenarios and divisions between lower ground floors and basements, party walls, columns, retention tanks, stair cores, service and stormwater pits.

Article originally published in sourceable.net 21 October 2016