The CSIR has developed single-use medical diagnostic kit cassettes and surgical aprons that are compostable. This innovation solves a major environmental pollution challenge: traditional cassettes and aprons, used daily in large quantities in the medical industry, are made from petroleum-based plastics that do not biodegrade. 

The new cassettes and aprons are made of biopolymers and bio-based additives, and they comply with international biodegradation standards.  

Dr Maya Mathew, an advanced polymer and composites scientist at the CSIR, says these products meet technical specifications and can be composted under industrial conditions. Tests conducted at the CSIR’s biodegradation testing laboratory, the only such facility in Africa, found that the materials exhibit 90% biodegradation within 120 days in industrial composting conditions. 

“Biodegradation can only be claimed if we outline the conditions and timeframes of biodegradation, which is determined by the type of material used for the formulation,” she explains. According to the standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), biodegradability can be claimed if 90% of a product’s carbon is converted into carbon dioxide within six months for industrial composting conditions. 

“Apart from these technical specifications, we have conducted industrial trials of our devices at two medical facilities in Cape Town and another in Gqeberha. We also tested them with a medical device manufacturer that manufactured HIV and pregnancy lateral flow test kits using the CSIR-developed cassettes,” she says. “The test outcome was positive in the sense that the composition of the cassettes did not have adverse effects on the test outcomes.” 

Mathew says hospitals, clinics and medical device manufacturers are the intended beneficiaries of this technology, due to the high production and usage rate of single-use medical diagnostic kits and surgical aprons.  

“Within the biomedical sector, there are several single-use products that are not recycled due to contamination with biomedical waste, and most of the products are made from petroleum-based plastics, which are non-biodegradable,” she says. “These are discarded into landfills where they remain there and persist for more than 100 years.” 

She says the novel cassettes and aprons biodegrade to non-toxic residues like carbon dioxide and water.   

The two products were developed using the CSIR’s state-of-the-art processing and characterisation equipment. “Our pilot scale processing facility allows us to manufacture specimens at optimum processing conditions, so that the products have a balance of properties such as strength, toughness and flexibility,” says Mathew. 

“Our materials meet the technical requirements of the medical community, while addressing the challenges of sustainable sourcing, recyclability and compostability, and mass production using conventional industrial sites.” 

Mathew explains that biopolymers and biobased additives have a lower carbon footprint generally, so any material based on this technology will help increase resource efficiency, reduce the harmful impacts of littering, and help businesses meet market needs that are aligned to environmental legislations. 

“Our work is focused on developing novel materials with added functional properties, but in the long run, the work that we do provides solutions to plastic pollution and climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” she says. 

This technology is co-funded by the CSIR, Department of Science, Technology and Innovation and Technology Innovation Agency under the Bio-innovation programme. It addresses SGD 12.