RecoMed Take-Back Scheme Backed by Vinyl Plus Voluntary Initiative : VIDEO: Medical PVC Waste Recycling Scheme for UK Hospitals Explained
Following its launch in 2014, UK PVC take-back scheme for medical PVC waste, RecoMed, has rolled out to a number of other hospitals as the National Health Service aims to better manage the 350,000 tonnes of waste it produces annually, 40% of which is plastic waste.
The RecoMed scheme is a partnership project between the British Plastics Federation (BPF) and Axion Consulting and is funded by Vinyl Plus, the voluntary sustainable development programme of the European PVC industry.
According to Axion, PVC is widely used in medical devices from IV solution bags to tubes and masks, many of which are single use items which could be sent for recycling.
The company said that there are approximately 150 hospitals in the UK it is estimated that each year, around 2250 tonnes of medical PVC could be recycled by collecting oxygen masks, oxygen tubing and anaesthetic masks alone.
Participating hospitals were said save money on waste disposal costs. Previously this PVC material would have been incinerated as part of clinical or offensive waste streams or sent to specialist landfill.
The collected plastic is shredded and supplied to a specialist recycler who produces 100% recycled horticultural products such as tree ties.
A video explaining the scheme can be viewed below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iivghIDk070]
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has expanded how the UK’s National Health Service can use the RecoMed scheme to recycle waste PVC products in hospitals and medical facilities has been published
