World’s Largest Multiple Use Hospital Contract Won

The global pioneer of underground automated vacuum waste collection, Envac (UK), has secured its largest tri-system contract with Hainan Cancer Hospital, an international cutting-edge centre of healing and research in Haikou City, China.

The deal, which is estimated to be worth almost £3 million (€3.6 million), will see Envac handle the laundry of 1,200 hospital beds and the general waste of over 11,000 staff and patients. It will also form a key component in helping the hospital to achieve the coveted ‘Luban Award’, China’s illustrious award for design and construction.

The development will integrate Envac’s general waste system, its linen collection system, which will transport laundry around the entire site, and the Kitchen Waste System throughout the hospital’s 230,000km² build area. A general waste system will also be connected to the hospital’s staff quarter.

In total the three systems will transport almost 13 tonnes of waste from the site’s 628 waste inlets each day throughout a pipe network that will span almost two miles (2.7km) in length on completion.

Mr Wang Tielin, Director of the hospital at Hainan Cancer Hospital, comments: “Given the size of the hospital traditional modes of waste collection and transportation are no longer viable. With a strong hospital portfolio in China, Envac has not only proved that its technology is tried and tested but also highly successful in densely populated areas. It’s also much more hygienic than traditional waste collection which, as a hospital, is one of our main priorities. Envac will make waste collection easier and quicker whilst freeing up valuable corridor space as manual waste collection movements will be reduced by 90 per cent.”

Envac generated global interest within the healthcare sector when it launched its first ever system, a hospital waste system, in 1961. It has since installed 61 systems in hospitals across the world.

Fredrik Lauritsen, Head of Envac’s Hospital Programme, adds: “Just as everything evolves and changes to adapt to an ever-changing environment traditional waste collection is rapidly becoming an out-dated and ineffective approach to waste management. The simplicity around automated waste collection, not to mention its countless benefits, is enough for large organisations to rethink their waste strategy and integrate a solution that is relevant both now and in the future. Hainan Cancer Hospital has achieved this and on completion it will have a method of waste collection that will save time and money whilst dramatically increasing the hospital’s productivity and hygiene levels.”

Construction on the site began in March 2014 and will be completed by July 2015.