by Ann Withanee — April 15, 2011—Eight healthcare providers, manufacturers and waste handlers will work together to make plastic products in hospitals more recyclable, tackling all stages from design to disposal, according to a recent announcement by Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council.
The Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) launched this week to increase how much plastic, from both products and packaging, gets collected and recycled at healthcare facilities.
The council is made up of recyclers Engineered Plastics and Waste Management; healthcare service provider Cardinal Health; and product makers DuPont, Hospira, Johnson and Johnson, Kimberley Clark, and Becton, Dickinson and Company.
While much of the plastic used at hospitals has a high value, little of it is recycled, said Tod Christenson, director of the HPRC. “You have things that disable the opportunity to recycle all along the value chain.”
Sticking paper labels on plastics or designing products made with different types of plastics hamper recycling. Within facilities, employees need to be made aware of what plastics are recyclable, and there’s the need for space to collect, sort and store recyclables until they can be picked up, he said.
The HPRC’s work will focus just on pre-patient contact materials, so it won’t be dealing with anything that comes into contact with bodily fluids and would end up in medical waste bags.
For more information, see the Web site.
