The PVCMed Alliance (www.pvcmed.org), a global organisation representing suppliers to the PVC medical industry, is participating in a Swedish waste management project aimed at increasing the recycling of plastics used in healthcare. The project involves identifying products and packaging that can be easily sorted and recycled to a high standard as well as investigating how to make plastic recycling systems more efficient and relevant. Technical work includes developing pre-treatment approaches to increase the rate of recycling and to find applications for the recycled plastic.

The project is financed by Vinnova, the "Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems", with additional financing provided by the PVCMed Alliance and organisations including PVC producer Ineos (Rolle / Switzerland; www.ineos.com). Other partners in the project include the Swedish Environmental Institute, Swedish regional and county councils, waste companies, research institutes and various hospitals.

“A major challenge is to develop the waste separation system to increase plastics recycling without disrupting the hospitals’ daily work,” says Kristian Hemström, project leader at the Stockholm County Council. “The recycling of medical plastics must be done in a way that does not increase hygienic risks.”

Jens Strömberg, environmental strategist at the Västra Göteland regional council, said a key goal is to evaluate the economic benefits of recycling. “We also believe that there is a great potential in increasing the separation of medical plastic waste that is used nowadays for energy recovery,” he added. Members of the PVCMed Alliance include PVC resin and plasticiser producers and PVC converters such as BASF, Eastman and Oxea.