What is Advanced Recycling’s Role in Medical Packaging?

Golub: Medical packaging typically involves a diverse range of materials, from rigid plastics used in trays for hand instruments to flexible films and multi-layered packaging used in syringes and IV bags. Traditional recycling methods often fall short in managing complexity from multiple materials due to the potential melt stream contaminants of puncture layers like nylon or barrier layers, like EVOH. Advanced recycling, however, chemically reverts these materials into feedstocks, which enable multi-layer configurations to be recycled, although most advanced recycling systems prefer mono-materials. Having waste management collection centrally to a large facility further plays into acceptance of mixed streams.

HCP: What role does centralized collection play in the success of advanced recycling in healthcare settings?

Golub: Centralized collection is pivotal for advanced recycling adoption in medical facilities as it consolidates various types of waste across different departments, ensuring that mixed-material waste is gathered and processed. While the individual consumer doesn’t purchase enough films to enable advanced recycling collection, large facilities gathering films would make it significantly easier to implement such infrastructure. This efficiency not only minimizes handling risks but also ensures that economies of scale can be reached to help for consistency in subsequent chemical recycling processes.

HCP: In what ways does advanced recycling contribute to environmental sustainability in the healthcare industry?

Golub: The healthcare industry, while essential for public well-being, generates significant amounts of waste, much of which ends up in landfills or incinerators. Advanced recycling offers a sustainable alternative by converting medical packaging film waste into raw materials for new products.  By integrating advanced recycling into waste management strategies, healthcare facilities could contribute to a circular economy, where waste is repurposed rather than discarded.

HCP: Are there regulatory and safety considerations when implementing advanced recycling in medical settings?

Golub: The largest technical challenge as I see it would be to ensure sorting would be only non-red bag waste. Once products are brought into an OR there are a number of other safety, health, and environmental concerns that need to be addressed. While at some point, pyrolysis may be a good option for red-bag waste, I don’t think we are there yet in terms of understanding and mitigating risks involved.

HCP: How can healthcare facilities integrate advanced recycling into their existing waste management systems?

Golub: Healthcare facilities can integrate advanced recycling through a multi-step approach: 1) Establish partnerships with collection and advanced recycling companies in their area. There are a number of large-scale projects coming online in the next couple of years, and they will be eager for waste collection. 2) Formulate a collection plan and decide how best to implement packaging collection (non-red bag waste). Working with the established partners will help with this step. Having collection points can help to ease logistics issues. 3) Roll out a training plan complete with visual aids to help the staff better understand what advanced recycling is, and why it’s being implemented.

Partnerships ensure that waste streams are managed in a way that leverages advanced recycling’s strengths—particularly its ability to process multi-material and contaminated plastics. Additionally, by adopting communications such as standardized labeling and packaging protocols, hospitals can facilitate more efficient collection and ensure that the recycling process is both safe and effective.

HCP: What future developments could enhance the role of advanced recycling in medical settings?

Golub: Future advancements in advanced recycling technology could further optimize the conversion of complex medical plastics by improving catalyst efficiencies and lowering energy consumption. Continued research may yield processes that can handle an even broader range of mixed materials with minimal pre-treatment. Moreover, as regulatory frameworks evolve to support circular economy initiatives, we might see increased investment in infrastructure for centralized collection and recycling networks specifically tailored for healthcare waste. Such developments will likely expand the scalability of advanced recycling, ensuring that even more healthcare facilities can participate in and benefit from a sustainable, closed-loop waste management system.

HCP: How does advanced recycling align with global sustainability initiatives in healthcare?

Golub: Global sustainability initiatives increasingly emphasize reducing waste and promoting circular economies across all sectors, including healthcare. Advanced recycling aligns with these goals by offering a method to recycle complex plastics that were once considered non-recyclable. It helps reduce the volume of medical waste entering landfills, thus minimizing environmental pollution. Additionally, by transforming waste into reusable raw materials, advanced recycling supports the development of sustainable packaging solutions. This has a net benefit to the environment as well as enhances the overall sustainability of healthcare systems and device manufacturers worldwide.

Charles Golub has 18 years of experience in the medical device industry, with roles in strategic marketing, research and development, and flexible packaging.Berry Global 

Charles Golub is the Product Line Manager for Medical Films at Berry Global. With over 18 years of experience in the device industry, his career spans roles in strategic marketing, research and development, and flexible packaging. He earned a B.S.E. in Plastics Engineering from UMass Lowell and an M.B.A. from Bentley University, and he holds more than 30 patents focused on components used in devices.