MATRIX TECHNOLOGY PTY. LTD.

This is the key feature of the patented process and the machine which uses it to produce a deodorised, reduced, inert, amorphous, friendly, solid product. It also "drinks" and treats its own process and washdown liquids.

There are a number of ways biomedical wastes can be disinfected including heating with steam, microwaves, autoclaving, hypochlorite disinfection and conventional incineration. None of these excel Matrix with respect to environmental issues, such as post-treatment disposal, energetics, greenhouse gas generation, emissions to atmosphere and waste minimisation.

The Matrix process in contrast is a series of linked steps in which the disinfecting agents are themselves converted to benign substances such as water, clays and carbonates at a very low operating cost. It was this aspect that attracted the environmental technology grant from the Australian Commonwealth Government which initially enabled the project to proceed to a commercial product in 1996.
 

A process which disinfects, reduces and stabilizes biohazardous waste in a sealed mechanism is safety oriented by definition. Matrix has been assessed under a Workplace Health and Safety procedure of Queensland Health, and airborne bacterial levels were lower near the machine than in adjacent service areas of Cairns Base Hospital. There are a number of automatic safety systems (sensors and alarms) which shut down the machine when the levels of essential disinfecting materials reach a pre-determined point or if there is a mechanical failure. Machine conform to ISO 9002.

 
Treated infectious waste at the Cairns plant..

Working conditions are pleasant. At the Cairns plant the workers became so comfortable with it that one was seen to have left his packet of sandwiches on the edge of a hopper of treated waste.

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