Amcor has joined HPRC, a coalition of industry peers across healthcare, recycling and waste management, seeking to improve recyclability of plastic products within healthcare. Amcor will support the coalition with extensive expertise in packaging design for medical devices and applications in hospitals and other treatment settings. The industry group aims to address all dimensions of the packaging value chain, from packaging design to collection systems and end markets.
There is tremendous potential for recycling medical device packaging. However, the nature of current medical packaging materials and the practical considerations of recycling segregation systems in busy healthcare environments will require a new approach. As sustainability requirements for packaging increase, there is an opportunity for the healthcare industry to work collaboratively to make the most of this valuable waste stream, while continuing to ensure product protection and patient safety.
“The healthcare industry poses a unique recycling opportunity,” says David Clark, Vice President Sustainability, Amcor. “Amcor has global experience in developing more easily recyclable packaging, and we share HPRC’s vision of improving recycling rates of healthcare plastics.”
“We are delighted to welcome Amcor as our newest member to help us enable plastic recycling solutions in healthcare,” says Peylina Chu, Executive Director of HPRC. “As a packaging leader, Amcor is highly focused on creating a circular economy as shown in their 2025 pledge. With their technical expertise and their commitment to developing responsible packaging in collaboration with likeminded partners, Amcor is a fantastic addition to HPRC.”
In January 2018, Amcor became the first global packaging company pledging to develop all its packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2025. Close collaboration with organizations like HPRC, as well as the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and A Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging (CEFLEX), help to achieve that goal and increase the rates of recycling across all industries to advance a circular economy.
About Amcor
Amcor is a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging for food, beverage, pharmaceutical, medical, home- and personal-care, and other products. Amcor works with leading companies around the world to protect their products and the people who rely on them, differentiate brands, and improve supply chains through a range of flexible and rigid packaging, specialty cartons, closures, and services. The company is focused on making packaging that is increasingly light-weighted, recyclable and reusable, and made using an increasing amount of recycled content. Around 50,000 Amcor people generate US$13 billion in sales from operations that span about 250 locations in 40-plus countries. NYSE: AMCR; ASX: AMC
About Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council
HPRC is a private technical coalition of industry peers across healthcare, recycling and waste management industries seeking to improve recyclability of plastic products within healthcare. HPRC is made up of brand leading and globally recognized members including Amcor, Baxter, BD, Boston Scientific, DuPont, Eastman Chemical Company, Gore, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, Nelipak Healthcare Packaging, Ravago Recycling Group, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. The council convenes biannually at meetings hosted by an HPRC member that regularly include stakeholder engagement events and facility tours to further learning and knowledge sharing opportunities through first-hand demonstration of best practices in sustainable product and packaging design and recycling processes. For more information, visit https://www.hprc.org/ and follow HPRC on LinkedIn.