Time to reduce the carbon footprint within hospitals
In Sweden alone, millions of plastic containers are used just for risk waste at hospitals. The high contamination risk, forces the products to be disposable. A project initiated by a consortium of Swedish regional healthcare providers now aims at replacing current plastic risk waste containers with a container based on renewable materials thus reducing the carbon footprint. The project has received public funding from Swedish Vinnova and Västra Götalandsregionen (VGR). OrganoClick’s new technology within green biocomposite materials; OrganoComp™ will be used as the material choice for the container.
The total funding from Vinnova and VGR will be SEK 1.9 million of which OrganoClick is granted SEK 1.1 million. OrganoClick will in the project develop a prototype container based on the requirements set by healthcare professionals within Västra Götalands läns landsting and Landstinget i Värmland. These two regional healthcare providers alone use more than 200 000 risk waste containers annually in its operations. The total project involves both technology companies and ordering clients; OrganoClick AB (publ), Västra Götalands läns landsting, Landstinget i Värmland, NiNa Innovation AB, Paper Province, Region Värmland-Kommunalförbund, Östfold Fylkeskommune and Johanneberg Science Park. The project was initiated by NiNa Innovation and will be coordinated by Johanneberg Science Park, with NiNa Innovation as a subcontractor to manage the project.
The funding comes from Vinnovas program Bioinnovation, were the vision is to transfer Sweden into a bioeconomy by 2050. Today millions of plastic containers only in Sweden are used for management of risk waste. Because of the high risk of spreading harmful substances like for example viruses, bacteria, toxins, poisonous chemicals the plastic containers are used only once and thereafter destructed and therefore contribute to a substantial carbon footprint. The project will be executed during a period of 18 months with the aim of having a prototype ready at the end of the project.
“It is very exciting to collaborate with hospitals in this area. A bio-based product, that can fulfill the hospitals tough requirements on function and sustainability, could open up new markets for OrganoClick; not only within hospitals and other industries but also consumer products for all kinds of containers with the need of water resistance properties” says Mårten Hellberg, CEO at OrganoClick AB.
For more information, please contact: Mårten Hellberg, CEO
Phone: +46 (0)8 684 001 10
Email: marten.hellberg@organoclick.com
About OrganoClick
OrganoClick AB (publ) is a Swedish cleantech company listed on Nasdaq First North that develops, produces and markets functional materials based on environmentally friendly fiber chemistry. Examples of products that are marketed by OrganoClick are the water repellent fabric treatment OrganoTex®, the flame and rot timber protectant OrganoWood® (through the subsidiary company OrganoWood AB) and biobased binders for non-woven materials. OrganoClick was founded in 2006 as a commercial spinoff company based on academic research examining the modification of biofibers performed at Stockholm University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. OrganoClick has won several prizes and has been designated “Sweden's most promising start-up company”, Sweden's best environmental innovation and has appeared on the Affärsvärldens och NyTekniks top 33 list of “Sweden's hottest technology companies”. The company has also received a number of awards, such as The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) “Climate Solver” award. OrganoClick’s headquarters are in Täby, north of Stockholm, where the company's production, R&D, sales and marketing departments are located. OrganoClick's Certified Adviser on Nasdaq First North is Erik Penser Bank.