Method for recovery of material from post-use absorbent sanitary products

A method to sterilize and decontaminate post-use absorbent sanitary products contaminated with organic compounds deriving from body metabolism, wherein absorbent sanitary products comprise plastic fractions and at least one of first super-absorbent polymers (SAP) and first cellulose, the method comprises steps of:

• grinding at least once the absorbent sanitary products to obtain grinded absorbent sanitary products, according to a homogeneous size equal to or lower than 40 cm;
• sterilizing the grinded absorbent sanitary products by heating at a temperature equal to or lower than 140° C. and at a relative pressure between 1 bar and 3 bars to obtain sterilized absorbent sanitary products;
• oxidizing the sterilized absorbent sanitary products with hypochlorite in an alkaline aqueous solution at a temperature lower than 80° C. to obtain oxidized sanitary products;
• and
• inactivating the oxidized sanitary products with a reducing substance chosen from carboxylic organic acids, hydrogen peroxide, and sodium percarbonate.