Dialysis clinic goes green

11/14/2008 5:41 CST

Dialysis clinic goes green

Wendy Rigby - KENS 5 Eyewitness News

We hear a lot these days about businesses going green. Now, one San Antonio kidney dialysis clinic is cleaning up its act with a machine that saves space and the impact on the environment.

It's a life-saving procedure that takes place thousands of times each week in San Antonio. Patients have their blood cleaned by a machine that acts as an artificial kidney — the procedure is crucial.

It takes lots of time and uses many plastic materials — yards of tubing and filters that immediately become medical waste, waste that piles up in boxes and has to be hauled away at a steep price.

Now, The Kidney Treatment Center on South New Braunfels is using a new method, a shredding and sterilization system that turns potentially toxic waste into harmless trash.

"It's a technology that decreases the amount of environmental waste that's potentially toxic and hazardous," nephrologist Dr. Bruce Brockway said.

In a process that takes only 15 minutes, a machine called SteriMed grinds up the used plastic material, then sprays a chemical to disinfect it. The result is a material that can be safely trashed. Amazingly, the unit takes up 90 percent less space.

"It's great. I mean, it's doing the right thing not just in the treatment of patients, but in the management of our little part in what happens to our country and the universe," Brockway said.

With less to pay for medical waste disposal, the Kidney Treatment Center says this new technology should pay for itself in about two years. Other medical businesses that can utilize this technology are blood banks, veterinarian offices and nursing homes.

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http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/Dialysis_clinic_goes_green.html