Recycled hospital waste to benefit ‘desperate’ children in Africa

South Africa – Pharmaceutical firm Adcock Ingram Critical Care has joined forces with a group of local hospitals and waste management businesses to recycle medical waste in the Johannesburg area of South Africa. The end product? Shoes for underprivileged children.

Previously-landfilled medical plastic waste such as tubes and drip bags are now being collected from two hospitals in Pretoria for recycling. These have already been transformed into shoes for youngsters attending Zandspruit primary school, explains Johannesburg’s mayor Herman Mashaba.

The new initiative is said to offer a safe way to create functional products from local medical waste – comprising mostly PVC – while also boosting employment in the area.

More hospitals and schools are in talks to join the project.

Turning hospital plastics into school furniture such chairs and tables is the next step, according to Colin Sheen, project manager for Adcock Ingram Critical Care. The recycled products will benefit children living in rural areas close to the city of Johannesburg who are ‘desperate’ and ‘need help the most’, he adds.