Hull plastic recycling specialist MyGroup has been approved to handle clinical waste by the Environment Agency.
The new permit means the facility can now process a range of clinical waste items, such as used syringes, surgical dressings and personal protective equipment.
It has been secured as the business looks to build on success with hard-to-recycle non-clinical waste discarded during the Covid-19 pandemic. MyGroup - formerly known as Mytum and Selby - has recycled more than 20 million items, including used PPE, swabs and lateral-flow testing equipment, avoiding incineration and landfill. Through its ReWorked brand it launched the Reclaim the Mask initiative with supermarkets and high street stores to encourage recycling.
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Steve Carrie, director of the Morley Street operation, said: “After a rigorous application process, we are delighted to receive the clinical waste permit, which broadens our arsenal and reach in the ongoing fight against waste, and opens a host of new markets for the company.
“It’s high time we stop accepting that the only solution for certain types of waste – particularly from healthcare settings – is incineration or landfill. MyGroup has proven time and time again that the “unrecyclable” is in fact recyclable, so we welcome this endorsement from the Environment Agency in us as a provider trying to overturn this status quo.”
It will now take in waste from various settings, including hospitals and GP practices, dental surgeries, veterinary clinics and pharmaceutical facilities.
The team is already speaking to a number of NHS and private providers about the commissioning of collection and processing services, having invested in first-of-its-kind steam sterilising autoclave machinery. It allows the hazardous waste to be dealt with on site, with zero emissions and low water consumption. This is thanks to a £200,000 investment in solar panels and battery storage, twinned with rainwater harvesting. Biogas is also being explored.
Mr Carrie said: “Drawing energy from renewables is the only way our industry can scale up capacity, sustainably, to meet today’s waste and recycling demands, while moving towards Net Zero. I’m proud MyGroup is leading from the front in this space.’
The company expects to process more than 60 tonnes of waste a week, before feeding it into existing lines, for the production of Stormboard – a construction material similar in consistency to plywood.
Future plans are to expand clinical waste processing capabilities, with potential for a mobile waste processing service in partnership with machinery supplier MACS. Overseas markers could be targeted, with a scaling up in Hull too, Mr Carrie added.
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