Page 21 - Plastics News October 2021

A. Based on our half year financial Q. Can we talk about the A. The Indian medical plastic
result 2021 published (source: investment that you plan? manufacturing market is working on
Polycarbonates - Covestro Half- A. We’re also investing in renewable fulfilling the challenges of the medical
Year Financial Report 2021), the energy to gradually reduce our device regulations that are designed to
Polycarbonates segment saw global reliance on fossil fuels and further improve patients’ safety. I’m impressed
core volumes grow by 13.5% over reduce the carbon footprint of our by the medical device industrial
the prior-year period, which was materials. In 2019, Covestro signed, zones that have been established
adversely affected by the coronavirus what was then, the largest corporate to facilitate value chain players
pandemic. Core volumes sold were supply contract with Ørsted to cover working together to better serve the
up, particularly in the automotive electricity demand in Germany, healthcare industry. Investment in
and transportation industry across partly with offshore wind power. local healthcare infrastructure, like
all regions and in the electrical, This was followed by the sourcing hospital bed capacity and diagnostic
electronics and household appliance of renewable electricity for our site centers, are increasing the demand
industry in the APAC region. in Antwerp, Belgium for up to 45% for medical devices & laboratories
Q. What are the plans of our consumption. Most recently, equipment. Covestro is here in India
for the year, are Covestro’s Shanghai site signed a to help our customers meet this
you wor king on contract to purchase 100 gigawatt- important challenge for the domestic
capacity building/ hours per year of solar power from market.
sustainability? North-West China’s Ningxia region. In addition, India’s exports in the
medical devices sector have grown
A. In addition to world class facilities This is equivalent to about 10 % of strongly in the last five years and are
the site’s annual electricity demand.
across the world, Covestro is invested expected to hit USD 2.5 billion in
in India with three sites/outfits Q. How does the concern 2021. The Confederation of Indian
spread across the country to cater to on plastic waste affect Industry (CII) expects the MedTech
domestic markets. the R&D trend of the sector to grow from USD 11 billion
An example will be the Greater Noida applications in medical in 2020 to USD 50 billion by 2025, an
production site, which serves medical / surgical domain? impressive CAGR of 35.4% over the
customers with local production and A. As a part of the Healthcare Ecosystem, next five years. This is the reason why
value added colour and design service, as Device OEMs and material producers Covestro is so optimistic about our
well as technical and regulatory support. share the same goal — aiming to sales to healthcare customers in India.
One of our investment focus is reduce waste of any kind including Using materials from Covestro, India’s
to expand our sustainable material plastic. Healthcare Devices serve an domestic manufacturing industry can
solutions to customers. To live up to important purpose, to sustain life for develop devices to fulfil the increasing
our vision of becoming fully circular, people and bring greater wellbeing market needs by adapting innovative
we will continue to develop and to the population. Polycarbonate is a medical raw material solutions, such
expand our mechanically recycled highly durable and versatile material, as medical low friction polycarbonates
and renewable attributed product and may be recycled to be used again and medical glass filled polycarbonate
portfolio. For example, we have whenever the challenge of post-use which may be used in drug delivery
established strong partnerships within contamination can be addressed. devices, minimally invasive surgical
the value chain to secure the long- We’re developing and expanding our devices or diagnostic tools. Though
term supply of alternative mass portfolio of more sustainable material open innovation in collaboration with
balanced raw materials from bio-waste solutions, including mechanically Indian OEMs, we strive to become
and residues to produce renewable recycled and renewable attributed customers’ innovation partner, deeply
attributed polycarbonates. We’re also polycarbonates, which help us reduce understanding our customers’ needs
working to get more production sites dependency on fossil resources while and providing them with a broad
certified by ISCC PLUS following reducing carbon footprint. portfolio of material solutions. We
the successful certification of two Q. What do you think about provide full-value chain material
European sites and one in China, so science support, from early concept,
that we will be able to produce these the domestic Medical validation to later moulding and scale-
certified, more sustainable products plastics industry?, Any up, so as to offer a tailored solution
in other parts of the world. advice to them ? and shorten the go-to-market time.

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