Medical waste such as bandages, blood products and nappies could soon be turned into clean energy.

That’s according to Sussex businessman Michael Burns, who says he has developed a new technology to create renewable energy from a specific combination of plastic and biomass waste.

Rather than burning the waste in a traditional incinerator, his company Medipower plans to heat the waste and produce a synthetic gas, which is ignited and converted into thermal energy.

One of the biggest problems, he believes, is that landfill sites are closing and no one knows what to do with the non recyclable waste.

He said: “Medical waste from theatres has a high level of plastic and a high level of biomass from things like paper tissues, gowns and nappies.

“We get paid by the tonne to take the waste and believe we will be able to hugely undercut the companies currently being paid by the NHS to take this waste to landfill.”

Locals living in the vicinity of his business reportedly said they are concerned the process might create poisonous air and noise pollution.