MEDICAL | MATERIALS


Health benefits: medical plastics


Developments in medical plastics include recycling non- contaminated waste into drapes and packaging, a PETG alternative and COC films for microfluidic chips


Medical product manufacture requires the highest standards of control and cleanliness – yet there is also a pressing need to reduce (and recycle) single- use products. One example of this is a project in which Sabic


has teamed up with the Zuyderland medical centre in The Netherlands to convert medical plastic waste into new contact-sensitive packaging materials. In collaboration with converters Coveris and


ACE, and brand owners Artivion and Mölnlycke Health Care, the partners have recycled used medical plastics back into the medical materials stream in two pilot projects. Details of the projects were exhibited at K2025. Zuyderland launched a medical plastic waste collection programme in June 2024, with a collection system for non-contaminated plastic waste that had not come into contact with patients, blood or bodily fluids. The waste was prepared and transported to Sabic, to be converted into pyrolysis


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oil – which was then used to make polyethylene (PE) for its chemically recycled Trucircle range. It has been used in two healthcare products: Coveris used it to make packaging with 25% recyclate, for Artivion’s guide wire (used in vascular surgery); and Mölnlycke made surgical drapes – with 49% recycled content. “Non-contaminated medical plastic waste is a valuable feedstock opportunity,” said Khaled Al- Jalawi, global circular economy director at Sabic. Roel Goffin, board member at Zuyderland, added: “Our own non-contaminated medical plastic waste has been successfully turned into new material and returned for use in our own operating rooms.”


Thermoforming expansion Medical packaging company Nelipak is expanding operations – with a new manufacturing facility and an acquisition. Late last year, the company completed the


January/February 2026 | FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION 27


Main image: Plexiglas and Europlex films from Polyvantis can be used to make microfluidic chips


IMAGE: POLYVANTIS


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