Tasmania’s health sector just gained a serious upgrade in safe waste management, with Cleanaway officially opening the state’s first clinical waste treatment facility in Bridgewater.
The new Bridgewater Health Services site will handle hazardous waste from a wide sweep of industries, including hospitals, pharmacies, aged care, pathology labs, veterinary practices, dentists, childcare centres, beauticians and even maritime and infrastructure providers. At full capacity, the facility can treat up to 2,600 tonnes of clinical waste per year.
Cleanaway CEO and managing director Mark Schubert said the need for such infrastructure was made starkly clear during the COVID pandemic.
“We saw firsthand during the COVID pandemic just how essential clinical waste management services are,” Schubert says. “Without this vital service, hospitals and other health service providers can’t do their job.”
The facility uses a specialised autoclave, a high-pressure steam chamber, to sterilise waste at temperatures and pressures capable of destroying all microorganisms. This approach sidesteps the environmental fallout of traditional incineration methods.
“Compared with the traditional method of incineration to treat clinical waste, Bridgewater’s autoclave avoids the emission of dioxins and carbon,” Schubert says.
The facility also aligns with Cleanaway’s Blueprint 2030 strategy, which focuses on expanding the company’s national network of infrastructure to deliver high-circularity, low-carbon solutions.
“At Cleanaway, safety and protection of the environment are not goals or objectives, they are our foundations,” Schubert says.
For Tasmania, the Bridgewater site means faster, safer and more sustainable disposal of clinical waste, without the need to send it interstate. It also reinforces Cleanaway’s vision of seeing all waste as a resource, ensuring that even hazardous materials are managed with environmental intelligence and public safety in mind.
For more information, visit www.cleanaway.com.au or call 13 13 39.
