With its innovation, the Nölle company turns an often complained disadvantage of the biologically produced and biodegradable plastic polylactic acid (PLA) into an advantage. The fact that PLA becomes “soft” in a temperature range of around 55 to 65°C is something the company and its customers in the medical sector benefit from, as well as patients and our environment. Heated with infrared radiation, the splints can be deformed several times and thus adapted to changes in the part of the body being treated as the healing progresses. This alone means that the product makes a significant contribution to avoiding plastic waste and saving carbon dioxide. The possibility of industrially composting re+cast® further increases this environmental effect. According to various statistics, 30 to 150 tons of cast material (mostly made of polyurethane/PU) are disposed of at high cost every year in Germany alone.
The jury is convinced that Nölle Kunststofftechnik GmbH is taking on a model role in the medical device market with this product. What is all the more remarkable given that the family business, founded in 1947, had not previously been active in this segment. The company has made a name for itself primarily as a manufacturer of injection molded parts in the consumer sector (including for interior design) and as a tool manufacturer in plastic injection molding.
Anselm Gröning, the managing director, became aware of the problem quite by chance through a doctor friend. When looking for solutions, the entrepreneur found competent partners in the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Polymer Research (IAP) in Potsdam and the St. Walburga Hospital in Meschede. With both of them he developed his idea of user-friendly and environmentally friendly casts until it was ready for the product.
When it became apparent during the practical tests that padding of the re+casts® was necessary in certain cases, the company and the Saxon Textile Research Institute in Chemnitz also developed a new type of felt material that fulfills this function and can be composted with the rails after use. The jury would also like to recognize this consistency with second place.
