A recycling chain for hospital plastic waste

Image: Adobe Stock. Healthcare generates thousands of tons of plastic waste, some of which could be recycled back into recycled material.

Plastic waste generated in hospitals and healthcare is being recycled more effectively than it is currently.

SPIRIT Ecosystem Program Research Project PlasticsCircularity develop plastic waste recycling and new business opportunities for the circular economy of plastics. When increasing the recycling rate of plastic waste, attention must also be directed to those point-like waste streams that have so far been excluded from recycling systems and directed to incineration.

The collaboration aims to find ways to direct difficult plastic waste fractions to material recycling, such as biodegradable or cellulose-based plastics. New technologies, collection methods and cleaning technologies can open up new recycling opportunities.

Thousands of tons of waste to be incinerated

Healthcare generates approximately 10 tons of various plastic waste annually. This waste stream currently ends up almost entirely incinerated.

One of PlasticsCircularity's partners is Serres Oy. The company is currently developing sorting and processing methods for healthcare plastic waste, which could allow some of the plastics to be recycled into secondary raw materials.

PlasticsCircularity is a two-year project funded by Business Finland and coordinated by VTT.

The research partners in the project are Syke, the University of Eastern Finland and LUT. The corporate partners are Borealis Polymers, the driving company of the SPIRIT ecosystem program, Fortum Waste Solutions, Wipak, Serres, FF-Future, Sulapac and Woodly.

Text: Elina Saarinen/ Uusiouutiset-magazine

Image: Adobe Stock. Healthcare generates thousands of tons of plastic waste, some of which could be recycled back into recycled material.