Collaboration will bring Recycled Plastic to Medical Device Packaging
Agreement between Eastman and Ethicon will put copolyester derived from recycled materials in sterile barrier applications.
Eastman has announced an agreement with Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company, to source Eastman Renew materials for its sterile-barrier medical device packaging.
Eastar Renew 6763 is a copolyester made with Eastman’s molecular recycling technology, which uses plastic waste as feedstock but produces a resin with properties indistinguishable from those of Eastman’s regular version of the 6763 copolyester.
Thermoformed tray for medical device packaging.
Photo Credit: Eastman
The goal of the collaboration is to divert waste from landfills equivalent to 25% of the total packing produced. A future goal is to increase this ratio to 50% by 2023.
Mechanically recycled plastics are not used in medical applications due to purity and clarity requirements. Molecular or chemical recycling allow brands to circumvent this problem, by providing a plastics feedstock that is virtually identical to resin created with fossil fuels.
Eastman’s business model includes using both postconsumer and postindustrial plastic waste for its recycling process, according to a company spokesperson. In September, Eastman announced an agreement with Interzero for the purchase of up to 20,000 ton/yr of PET household packaging waste.
Eastman’s molecular recycling facility in Normandy, France, is planned to be operational by 2025 and have a capacity of 160,000 ton/yr.
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