Automated vacuum waste collection technology that efficiently transports hospital ‘waste’ at up to 70 kms / hr through a network of pipes hidden underground or located within the core of the building to a collection station on the site perimeter has been installed in four Finnish hospitals.
All four installations – at – Jyväskylä Hospital, Kainuu Central Hospital, Hyvinkää Sairaalanmäki and Tampere University Hospital, should be completed by 2020, and will automatically transport a combined total of over 3,000 tonnes of hospital linen and general waste, via airflow alone, each year.
On installing Envac’s equipment at Hyvinkää Sairaalanmäki, Eero Rahikka, Property manager at HUS, the Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa, said: “With a strong reputation for delivering automated waste collection systems to hospitals worldwide, Envac was the natural choice for us when it came to installing a solution capable of handling such large volumes. Envac is now internationally renowned for its technology, and also offers the most cost-effective solution. We expect the technology to significantly streamline our waste collection process.”
Envac reportedly invented automated waste collection technology in 1961. Almost six decades later, the company says the technology can be found in residential developments, airports, industrial kitchens, and ‘entire towns and cities’.
Joakim Karlsson, Envac AB’s CEO, added: “Organisations in both the private and public sectors are increasingly turning to automated waste collection to create efficiencies and make waste collection a cleaner, leaner, and more sustainable process. Whilst Finland is a relatively small country, it has demonstrated a commitment to innovation and an ability to map out a long-term vision. In doing this, it has set the global standard when it comes to waste collection within the healthcare sector.”
