BOSS - Medical Waste

A prototype plant will use baffled oscillation technology to recycle sterilised clinical waste from an NHS Scotland contract, recovering high-value polymers that are currently incinerated. This matters because the NHS generates vast quantities of single-use medical plastics—gloves, tubing, gowns, packaging—that are typically burned to prevent infection risk. Incineration releases carbon dioxide and destroys materials that could otherwise be reused. Lab-scale tests have already shown that the technology can separate and recover these polymers from sterilised waste streams. If the prototype succeeds, the process could divert significant volumes of NHS medical waste from incineration. Based on this single contract, the project estimates direct savings of up to 87,500 tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually. Beyond carbon reduction, recovered polymers could re-enter manufacturing supply chains for non-clinical products, reducing demand for virgin plastics. The technology is first to market for this specific waste stream, and if scaled, it could transform how the wider healthcare sector handles its plastic waste—a system most people never see, but which quietly generates millions of tonnes of emissions each year.