Stericycle opens new medical waste sterilisation facility in Romania

Stericycle, one of the main players within the medical waste sector, has opened a new sterilisation treatment facility in Oradea. This new facility increases its potential processing capacity by 800 tonnes of medical waste annually.

“Our new site in Oradea’s industrial park is an important investment in the healthcare sector and one of the most modern medical waste processing sites we operate in Romania. It uses the latest technologies and provides crucial support for the region’s growing healthcare industry, serving public and private hospitals and health facilities,” said Iulia Nartea, general manager Stericycle Romania.

Sterilisation is one of the more sustainable methods of treating medical waste.  The new facility uses pressurised steam and high temperatures to sterilise medical waste collected from healthcare institutions in the region. This helps remove the risk of infection, thereby protecting local communities and the environment.

Technology used at the site also helps minimise water and energy consumption by recirculating heat generated during the sterilisation process.  This also significantly reduces the volume of water required to generate the pressurised steam used in the treatment process and in doing so, produces less wastewater.

Gas usage is also reduced as the clean condensed steam is used to pre-heat the boiler feedwater, which is not possible with more traditional equipment.  Overall, the improved design helps increase the speed, efficiency and sustainability of medical waste processing.

Iulia Nartea continued: “We have been working to open the Oradea site for over two years.  The new facility increases Stericycle’s number of waste treatment facilities in Romania to seven and is an example of how we can process and treat waste both sustainably and closer to our customers’ operations. It’s a demonstration of our commitment and investment in Romania so we can better serve our customers.”