Page 30 - Plastics News Issue November - 2024
P. 30
COMPANY NEWS
paedic design and manufacturing companies medical waste annually, with plastics accounting
– and many of them work with Lewis Salvage for about 25% of that total. Despite 85% of that
to recycle products that have reached the end waste being non-hazardous, the overwhelming
of their lifecycles or are no longer usable in the majority is not recycled. A key reason is the mul-
medical field. Lewis Salvage’s system of unpack- ti-material makeup of plastic healthcare waste,
ing medical implants and separating the metal making it extremely difficult for hospital work-
from the packaging pairs extremely well with our ers to effectively segregate the material into the
Plastics Renewal technology, which can recycle proper waste and recycling streams.
all kinds of plastic types one through seven. It’s
a collaboration that makes a lot of sense, and Brightmark’s strategic partnership with Lewis
we couldn’t be happier with our progress so far. Salvage helps reduce medical plastic waste
because our technology can accept and pro-
Can you elaborate on the technologies and cess all types of plastics 1 through 7, even those
processes Brightmark uses in its Plastics Re- plastics that are deemed difficult to recycle.
newal technology?
How does the Minimised Landfill Recycling
Brightmark’s patented Plastics Renewal technol- Program work?
ogy is designed to convert plastic waste, specifi-
cally hard-to-recycle plastics, into new, circular Warsaw, Indiana, is home to one-third of the
products, diverting them from landfills and the world’s orthopaedic manufacturing companies
environment. and two-thirds of the world’s hip and knee man-
ufacturing companies. Because of this, Lewis
We receive incoming plastic waste from various Salvage receives medical waste from those
sources, including plastics (4 through 7) at the healthcare facilities. Among the many services
end of their lifecycle from agriculture, health- they offer, Lewis Salvage can unpack medical
care, manufacturing, and transportation sectors. implants and mechanically separate the metal
Once we receive plastic waste, we leverage our material from its packaging. They can then de-
Plastics Renewal process to break down the ma- stroy the implants and send the packaging and
terial by heating it in an oxygen-free environ- additional plastics they receive from implant
ment through a patented pyrolysis process. manufacturers and medical device companies to
the Brightmark facility in Ashley. From there, we
The end product is circular pyrolysis oil that is can turn that material into the building blocks for
ISCC PLUS certified. ISCC PLUS is a global sus- new circular plastics.
tainability certification system that certifies the
product will be used to create circular plastics. What environmental impact has this made?
These plastics have a much lower environmental
footprint compared to new virgin plastics made To date, we are extremely proud to share that
from fossil fuels. Brightmark has been able to recycle approxi-
mately 400,000 pounds of plastic waste as a
What are the biggest challenges faced in recy- result of its strategic partnership with Lewis Sal-
cling medical plastics? vage – effectively diverting this waste from land-
fills and incinerators.
According to the American Medical Association,
the United States produces six million tons of Brightmark and Lewis Salvage will continue
30 PLASTICS NEWS November 2024
