French manufacturing firm Tesalys will help Saudi Arabia to meet its sustainable development goals by installing its STERIPLUS and STERISHRED shredders/sterilizers in the country’s hospitals. All the equipment is made in France. Sama is purchasing the technology and supplying it to hospitals, clinics, and health centers in Saudi Arabia. In the capital Riyadh alone, more than 1,000 establishments will potentially have access to it. The Gulf State has embarked on a proactive national policy to reduce its CO2 emissions. In 2016, it introduced a sustainable development plan called “Vision 2030”, which aims to reduce the country’s long-standing dependency on oil revenues by diversifying its economy and implementing a privatization program. An organization dedicated to sustainable development was created in 2019. Infectious waste management is one of its core remits.

“Our solutions are even more relevant in the post-Covid world, considering that the volume of infectious waste has increased fourfold in some countries. With STERIPLUS and STERISHRED, it is now possible to treat this waste directly on site,” says Miquel Lozano, president and co-founder of Tesalys.

To curb pollution, in 2004 Saudi Arabia shut down the hospital incinerators that had been used until then to burn infectious waste. Private firms stepped in to manage the waste, taking it to various specialist facilities. However, transporting it was not only relatively dangerous, it also generated pollution. Thanks to Tesalys, it will now be possible to treat waste directly on site, which will obviously have a positive impact on the environment. With STERIPLUS and STERISHRED, waste is shredded into small, one-centimeter pieces and then steam sterilized at 135 degrees. This reduces its volume by up to 80% and saves 0.46 teqCO² per ton of waste treated. It comes out completely decontaminated in the form of harmless confetti, which can then be disposed of like normal household waste. Today, Tesalys operates in 65 countries and hopes to expand into the other Gulf States.