Coveris has teamed up with a Saudi Arabian firm to create a closed-loop process for clinical packaging.
The containment giant partnered with Riyadh-based chemicals specialist Sabic and other organisations for the plastic recycling project.
Coveris said an estimated 1.7m tonnes of non-contaminated polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) medical waste is incinerated annually across Europe.
The company, which has offices across the UK and abroad, worked with Sabic, Zuyderland Medical Centre in the Netherlands, healthcare brand Artivion and others to demonstrate a circular process for such packaging.
The Dutch healthcare hub collected non-contaminated waste in pink bags to be processed by Sabic into pyrolysis oil then into a material dubbed Trucircle™ PE, which the partners say meets strict medical standards.
This is then reintroduced into the medical value chain by Coveris and delivered to Artivion to be supplied back to Zuyderland in packaging including 25 per cent medical waste.
Jan-Willem Bruijsten, segment director medical at Coveris Group, said: “We are extremely proud to be part of this pioneering initiative. It proves that circularity in healthcare packaging is possible.”
Khaled Al-Jalawi, global circular economy director at Sabic, added: “Non-contaminated medical plastic waste represents a valuable feedstock opportunity, and Sabic Trucircle™ solutions could play a major role in advancing circularity in healthcare.”
