With an order of € 10 million from the Rotterdam Erasmus Medical Centre it seems that the Pharmafilter start-up is ready for an international breakthrough with their recycling system. This year, the company already has three large orders in the Netherlands and several international parties showing serious interest.

Pharmafilter: cleaner recycling?

At first sight Pharmafilter’s product does not appear to have much to do with recycling. Instead of separate waste collection in the hospitals, the startup throws everything into the same pile. Infusion bags, used scalpels, bandages, but also bedpans and leftover food are processed by a grinder and removed through the sewer.

At the end of the sewer Pharmafilter goes to work. With a self-designed fermentation and purification installation the biological components are converted into energy. The water is purified and cleansed of medicine residues which can then be used to flush the hospital’s toilets. The generated methane gas provides 60% of the system’s energy. At the end of the process all that remains is a a bit of residual flow composed of things like conventional plastic and small metal residues.

The promises the young company makes are fierce. Pharmafilter claims they can improve patient safety while reducing costs and lowering environmental damage. To make the system work Pharmafilter developed a biodegradable bedpan, the grinder and the system that separates the solid and liquid waste and processes this. The benefits are countless: it saves costs in terms of pollution taxes, transportation, special containers for hazardous waste, lift capacity, press containers, bedpan washers, and also contributes to a better working environment. The system and method have been globally patented, reveals co-founder Maikel Batelaan (50).

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