SABIC joins Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council
Thermoplastics engineering company will bring downstream expertise to recycling organization
In May (2012) the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) welcomed SABIC, a leading global supplier of engineering thermoplastics, as its newest member, bringing the total council membership to 13 companies.
“SABIC will play a key role in helping us to identify and define the best uses and applications for post-consumer recycled content,” said Tod Christenson, Director of HPRC. “HPRC is unique in its focus on identification of recycling barriers and solution development along the entire value chain and SABIC’s expertise in plastics, diverse presence in healthcare and commitment to post-consumer recycling will provide valuable knowledge to our downstream and close-loop recycling efforts.”
“As a global leader in the plastics industry, SABIC’s Innovative Plastics business has a long history of positive contributions to the sustainable development and performance of our customers’ products and our own,” said Don Cianelli, Healthcare Marketing Manager, Innovative Plastics.
“Improving the environmental sustainability of plastics, from production through use, to disposal or to reuse, is important to our business, as evidenced by our broad portfolio of PCR and PIR materials. Because we work closely with our customers to help them achieve their sustainability objectives, we are strongly aligned with the HPRC’s mission to inspire and enable the healthcare community to implement sustainable, cost-effective recycling solutions for plastic products and materials used in the delivery of healthcare.”
SABIC has begun work with the Council’s technical working group on resin testing and analysis of technical limitations in plastics processing to evaluate material property thresholds against viable reuse applications and market value.
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 thirteen brand leading and globally recognized members including Baxter, BD, Cardinal Health, Covidien, DuPont, Eastman Chemical Company, Engineered Plastics, Hospira, Johnson & Johnson, Kimberly Clark, Philips, SABIC 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.
The Innovative Plastics strategic business unit of SABIC is a leading, global supplier of engineering thermoplastics with an 80-year history of breakthrough solutions that solve its customers’ most pressing challenges. Today, Innovative Plastics is a multi-billion-dollar company with operations in more than 35 countries and approximately 9,000 employees worldwide. The company continues to lead the plastics industry with customer collaboration and continued investments in new polymer technologies, global application development, process technologies, and environmentally responsible solutions that serve diverse markets such as automotive, electronics, building & construction, transportation, and healthcare. The company’s extensive product portfolio includes thermoplastic resins, coatings, specialty compounds, film, and sheet. Innovative Plastics (www.sabic-ip.com) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC).
