A research chapter published in the NATO Science for Peace and Security Series has highlighted the complex environmental and hygiene challenges facing hospital laundry operations — a concern increasingly relevant to healthcare facilities across the Middle East and beyond.

Conducted by researchers at the University of Maribor, Slovenia, the study investigated how to optimise hospital bed linen washing programs to simultaneously achieve effective disinfection, maintain textile quality, and reduce the environmental burden of wastewater discharge.

The research found that the original high-temperature washing program — operating at 90°C — was thermally effective at eliminating pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecium, but caused excessive fabric damage and generated heavily polluted effluent. By shifting to a lower-temperature chemo-thermal process at 75°C and adjusting chemical dosages, researchers achieved the same five-log bacterial reduction required for hospital hygiene standards while improving textile longevity.

However, the trade-off was significant: the optimised program produced wastewater with elevated AOX (adsorbable organic halogen compounds) levels — a byproduct of sodium hypochlorite — exceeding regulatory limits for sewage discharge. The study concluded that wastewater treatment remains unavoidable for hospital laundries regardless of process optimisation.

The findings carry direct implications for healthcare laundry operators across the Gulf region, where water scarcity makes responsible effluent management especially critical. Researchers recommend integrating on-site water recycling systems, heat exchangers to recover energy from hot effluent, and intelligent chemical dosing sensors to reduce both costs and environmental impact.

The study underscores that hospital linen management is not merely a hygiene matter — it is an environmental and resource management responsibility.