Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) undergraduates will be trying to wrap their brains around KIMGUARD this semester. The students will be working with Kimberly-Clark, the makers of KIMGUARD medical wrap, to find a sustainable model for reusing the sterilization wrap. Both partners hope their groups' collective creativity will be able to produce some novel concepts for the medical wrap.

 

KIMGUARD sterilization wrap is the market-leading sterilization wrap for medical instruments. It is not toxic and burns cleanly, but the sheer volume that medical facilities amass daily makes disposing of the used wrap a difficult task.

 

"RISD's Design Studio program is one of the best in the country, and its students will bring an innovative and fresh perspective to this challenge. We eagerly await their ideas," said John Amat, vice president of Global Sales and Marketing, Medical Supplies at Kimberly-Clark Health Care.

 

Idea generation is where the partnership with a leading design school comes in. RISD has one of the country's foremost industrial design departments and 25 years of experience with brainstorming projects similar to this one.

 

During the fall semester, 16 students will work on the project. They will also be studying other ways to help hospitals save on waste management costs. Beth Mosher, associate professor of industrial design at RISD, will be directing the design course, called the Kimberly-Clark Green Studio.

 

"Kimberly-Clark Health Care has presented the students with the challenge to not only explore this interesting material but to create products that have a big environmental impact," said Mosher. "This is truly a unique, hands-on opportunity to make a difference, and we are all very excited about it."