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Europe’s waste is Africa’s gain

[ January 30, 2015   //   ]

Pall-Ex is teaming up with Legs4Africa to provide 1,000 prosthetic limbs to amputees in West Africa.

Under EU law, unwanted prosthetic limbs – even those in perfect working order – are deemed medical waste and cannot be distributed – even those that have only been tried on once and found not to fit.
“It is estimated that over 5,000 prosthetic limbs are destroyed every year within the UK due to these EU regulations,” explains Tom Williams, founder of Legs4Africa. “We can’t change the law, but there’s nothing stopping us improving the lives of amputees in Africa.”The palletised freight network is transporting the limbs to Gatwick Airport, from where they will be flown to hospitals in Gambia and Senegal.
Kevin Buchanan, group managing director of Pall-Ex, said: “It has been quite an ambitious project for the charity, particularly with the threat of Ebola affecting that area – but that’s more incentive to help in whatever way we can. We’re working alongside other local Leicestershire firms to get the project on its way, and we anticipate delivery of the prosthetic limbs to be in late-February.”
Other companies involved in the project include builder Adrian Dale to provide pallets; DS Smith to provide packaging; and Ground Qube to supply the man power.

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