A great deal of waste is generated every year in hospitals and, more broadly, in healthcare. Large healthcare units are massive institutions that produce significant amounts of waste, much of which is plastic. One of the main challenges in recycling hospital plastics waste is potential contamination. As part of the SPIRIT programme, which drives the green transition in the plastics industry, the PlasticsCircularity project is exploring, among other things, safer and more sustainable recycling and reuse of hospital plastics as an alternative to traditional incineration.
Contamination is a challenge for hospital plastics
Hospitals generate a lot of plastic waste, most of which comes from operating rooms and healthcare processes. In Finland, VTT has estimated that hospitals produce about 10,000 tonnes of plastic waste annually, and globally, it is estimated that over 20 million tonnes of hospital plastic waste will be generated in 2025. Specialised healthcare, such as operating rooms, uses a wide range of supplies, resulting in large amounts of plastics packaging as the equipment used in operations is individually packed in sterile packaging. Hospital plastics also include, for example, bottles for hand sanitiser, detergents, saline and nutritional solutions, as well as many types of medicine packaging.
Because of the risk of contamination, a large proportion of the plastics waste is incinerated to avoid health risks, but incineration has also been seen, until now, as an easy solution for these plastics waste streams. However, it would be more sensible and sustainable to recover valuable material from hospital plastic waste and circulate it as recycled raw material. Hospitals are starting to become keen to recycle plastic waste instead of incinerating it, and circular economy operators also see much potential in hospital plastics. However, more fact-based information is needed about available material flows, their usability and possible risks. The raw materials for hospital plastics are extremely pure and strictly controlled, making them first-class material for recycling purposes compared to e.g. consumer plastic waste streams.
Serres and partners working together to promote recycling of hospital plastic waste
A Finnish company Serres, specialising in the collection and management of patient fluids, has received funding from Business Finland for a project developing advanced solutions to accelerate the recycling of patient fluids and plastic waste in hospitals.
The project aims, among other things, to boost the recycling of suction bags produced by Serres and to gain a better understanding of the contamination risks of hospital plastics, factors that slow down recycling, and to collect reliable data to support decision-making. The quantities of products manufactured by Serres are significant — the company’s suction bags are used in over 80,000 operations worldwide every day. The project is closely linked to the PlasticsCircularity joint project coordinated by VTT, in which hospital plastics are one of the key areas of research.
Life cycle analysis of hospital plastics offers insight into more sustainable waste management
As part of the PlasticsCircularity project, a recent Master’s thesis by Masoud Ghaffari at LUT University has explored the life cycle of hospital plastics to identify more sustainable solutions for their handling. In his thesis, Ghaffari compared the environmental impacts of plastic waste streams from Helsinki University Hospital in Meilahti in 2023, considering scenarios where waste was recycled mechanically, chemically or used for energy recovery. The results showed that combining improved mechanical recycling with chemical recycling would be the most environmentally friendly solution. Improved mechanical recycling would be based on disinfecting low-contamination-risk plastic waste, such as plastic gloves and other personal protective equipment, before it enters the recycling process. This treatment resulted in recycling rate of 51% and the lowest CO2 emissions — a 58% reduction compared to the current practice, where low-risk plastic waste and rejects from mechanical recycling are incinerated. The most essential factor in reducing environmental impact is to decrease the amount of plastic sent for energy recovery. More efficient sorting of waste at source and disinfecting low-risk plastic waste to enable recycling were identified as ways to improve the sustainability of hospital waste management.
Product Marketing Manager Jari Herranen from Serres concludes: “Increasing the recycling of plastic waste in hospitals requires innovations from the whole ecosystem. It is not just about better products but about designing effective systems that cross organisational boundaries. When the circular economy is at the heart of solutions, supported by clear guidance and training, we can build a smarter and more sustainable future together.”
Photo credit: Serres