Page 49 - Plastics News March 2026
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FEATURE NEWS
Chemical Recycling of Plastics Market Revenue 2026 Cost Savings and Practical Benefits
to 2035. Courtesy of Towards Chem & Materials.
Many healthcare leaders assume sustainability
Buying Decisions are Changing
raises costs. In practice, hospitals often reduce
Hospitals no longer evaluate suppliers only on costs when they cut energy use and waste.
price and availability. Many procurement teams Energy-efficient infrastructure lowers utility bills.
now ask how products affect waste streams, en- Waste-reduction programs reduce disposal
ergy use, and supplier practices.
costs. Reusable and reprocessed devices cut
Procurement teams collaborate more closely purchasing expenses. Smarter packaging reduc-
with sustainability and operations leaders to as- es shipping and storage costs.
sess total impact. They examine manufacturing Hospitals can redirect these savings into patient
methods, transportation distance, packaging in- care, staff support, and facility improvements.
tensity, and end-of-life pathways.
Many health systems reported payback peri-
Suppliers now compete on transparency. Com- ods of about four years for sustainability invest-
panies that document their environmental im- ments, driven by energy and waste savings.
provements and explain their processes clearly Healthcare organizations also face growing
often build stronger, longer-term relationships operational risks from extreme weather, sup-
with healthcare buyers. Logistics also matter. Ef- ply disruption, and grid instability. Sustainability
ficient transport and storage can reduce emis- programs often strengthen resilience through
sions while improving reliability—a critical re- energy planning, backup systems, efficient
quirement for medical supply chains.
equipment, and cleaner power sources. Suppli-
Late-2025 purchasing surveys showed that ers support this shift by developing products
more than two-thirds of health systems now in- that use less energy and perform reliably under
clude environmental performance in supplier se- stress.
lection, a major shift from a decade earlier. Source – Plastics Engineering
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March 2026 PLASTICS NEWS 49
