Baxter, Eastman Chemical Company and Philips join Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council
The Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) (as of Jan. 9, 2012) has welcomed Baxter, Eastman Chemical Company and Philips as members to help drive its mission of inspiring and enabling sustainable, cost-effective recycling solutions for plastic products and materials used in the delivery of healthcare.
“HPRC is seeking to affect plastics recycling from product design and manufacturing through product use, disposal and recycle,” states Tod Christenson, Director of HPRC. “We are able to tackle this value chain approach through the unique technical knowledge and resources of our members. Baxter’s expertise in product design, Eastman’s strengths in plastic resins and Philips’ innovations in patient care will greatly contribute to plastics recycling solution development.”
“Baxter recognizes that the health of the planet affects the health of the people who inhabit it – we understand this connection and work to improve both,” said Art Gibson, Baxter’s vice president of Environment, Health and Safety. “We see tremendous value in sharing best practices and promoting new innovative approaches within our own organization and through formal collaborations such as HPRC to help create solutions to affect the recyclability of plastics used in healthcare.”
“Eastman’s relationship with HPRC is enabling us to better understand the sustainability needs of the healthcare industry. We are committed to be part of the solution. We want to collaborate more closely with our customers to develop and deliver innovative solutions. Hence, this will help them create more sustainable end-use products and meet their own sustainability goals,” said Godefroy Motte, Eastman’s Chief Sustainability Officer.
“We are committed to sustainability and proud to help develop green products which offer customers, users and society a significant environmental improvement on energy and material usage,” said Lucas Lenaerts, Senior Director Sustainability, Philips Healthcare, “Supporting this initiative by continuing to develop solutions with a lighter ecological footprint underscores Philips’ dedication to health and well-being.”
Projects underway for HPRC in 2012 include implementation of their recently published Design Guidelines for Optimal Hospital Plastics Recycling among member companies, initiation of 2-3 pilot studies with healthcare organizations, development of an economic viability modeling tool for implementing recycling programs, and material testing and analysis of the technical limitations in plastics processing.
HPRC is a private technical coalition of industry peers across healthcare, recycling and waste management industries seeking to improve recyclability of plastic products within healthcare. HPRC is made up of eleven brand leading and globally recognized members including Baxter, BD, Cardinal Health, DuPont, Eastman, Engineered Plastics, Hospira, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly Clark, Philips and Waste Management. The council convenes biannually at meetings hosted by an HPRC member that include facility tours to further learning and knowledge sharing opportunities through first-hand demonstration of best practices in sustainable product and packaging design and recycling processes. For more information, visit www.hprc.org.
