This is the problem with plastics, they're not all created equal

The issues surrounding plastics, recycling plastics and mainly the sheer volume of plastic that we’re throwing away on a worldwide scale, aren't going away.

We’ve been told there’s a good chance we’re swallowing plastics with every mouthful of water we drink. Thanks to a recent survey, around 83% of our water supply is likely to contain plastic – it doesn’t make good reading.

Of course, there’s a whole industry working to alleviate the problem. Following the news that not only is there plastic in our water but also in goods such as sea salt, it’s great to see initiatives such as the Seabin Project. Described as a ‘floating debris interception device” the product has been designed to sit in calm water where it has the potential to catch an estimated 1.5kgs of floating debris a day. The device works by sucking up litter and the first to be installed in the UK is in Portsmouth.

It’s a positive step and is just one of many moves to make good the issues the plastics industry has with waste and the environmental damage. I really enjoyed reading a piece by Olivia Boyd in the Guardian The plastics problem: are natural alternatives doing more harm than good? Boyd notes advances in bioplastic mean their use in packaging has surged  but she asks, are they just encouraging us to throw things away? She highlights the work being done by Full Cycle Bioplastics which is turning food scraps into compostable plastic – the company says that once this is carried out at scale, the results will be as cheap as oil-based products.

The article highlights how the move towards bioplastics may just be encouraging us to dispose of goods. And there are issues surrounding the continued manufacture of goods, rather than considering alternatives such as refilling or making things more durable which would ultimately lead to a reduction in both overall energy and the use of resources.

It’s an interesting argument and I’m inclined to agree that where once we were encouraged to wholeheartedly recycle, there’s now a shift to make us recognise products we can just chuck in the bin. With the existence of biodegradable plastics and the way many companies are looking at manufacturing products using bio-based material, has it all become a little bit confusing? Boyd notes that consumer confusion exists around these products and she’s right. I’ve been recycling things for years only to be recently told I shouldn’t be. Are we aware of what’s bioplastic and what’s not? How good is the plastics recycling sector at communicating what we should and shouldn’t be hurling into the rubbish bin?

But where does the medical plastics sector fit into all this? While it’s a niche market, the sector offers great potential and opportunity – figures suggest it’s global value will hit $33.6bn (£25.27) by 2025. Meanwhile the global plastic recycling market looks likely to hit $66.9bn (£50.30bn) also by 2025.

The medical plastics sector does have ‘single-use’ at its core. And with good reason. Given the applications for many medical plastic devices, and the risk that re-use would pose to health, the argument for throw-away products is clear.

But what is the industry doing to address issues of waste and how far is it going to develop new materials? Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are bioplastics used within the medical industry for applications including bandages to help with skin regeneration, surgical pins and stiches. They also have applications in orthopaedic devices and implants.  

Danimer Scientific produces biopolymer resins. Writing on the company’s website, Laura Mauney looks at how PHA bioplastics can offer adaptability across a range of clinical needs. According to Mauney: “The use of PHA bioplastics in healthcare delivery is an obvious and appealing direction that has stirred interest in the global medical community.“One reason PHA is being studied in medical product testing is that the biopolymers can be custom formulated for a range of tensile strengths, melting temperatures, and degradability timelines.”

She lists a range of advantages these products offer including “biocompatibility, bio-absorption capabilities, inflammation reduction and interactive, biological support for cell regeneration and wound healing.”

In the latest issue of MPN North America, Pyam Ramnes, outlines the plus points of bioplastics.

He says: “Plastics are fossil-based and suffer biodegradability. Bioplastics, however, are organic-based and biodegradable. These kind-to-the-environment materials are from resources like plants and animals which are far more sustainable resources than the fossil-based resources like oil and gas. As a result, the biodegradability of bioplastics combined with the sustainability of their resources, make them a great candidate in the medical field.

“Whether for artificial eyes or modern implants, several materials have been used in the medical field. But, a material that benignly disappears in the body would be a panacea. With the emergence of biodegradable and bio-absorbable polymers, temporary prostheses, tissue engineering, and drug delivery vehicles began to rise.”

As well as the medical plastics sector looking at materials that pose less of a threat to the environment, there is an increasing move to addressing the issues of recycling.

In the UK, RecoMed is a PVC take-back scheme initially implemented at seven different NHS hospitals. The scheme involves the collection of used PVC medical devices including IV solution bags, nasal cannulas, oxygen tubes, anaesthetic masks and oxygen masks. With around 1500 hospitals in the UK, estimates put the total tonnage of PVC waste at over 2,000 tonnes per annum. Thanks to this scheme, VinylPlus (the voluntary sustainable development program of the EU PVC industry) has commissioned the British Plastics Federation and Axion Consulting to develop a collection scheme for PVC medical waste. RecoMed was the result – a scheme involving the collection of certain PVC hospital waste which is then transported to a recycler, where it is transformed into tree ties.

In the US a collaborative multi-hospital recycling project between the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) and the Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) has been set up in the Chicago area.

The project aimed to address the issues surrounding the use and recycling of plastics used in the healthcare industry. HPRC and Plastics aimed to introduce a viable recycling model for healthcare plastics, the focus being on non-infectious plastic packaging and products collected from clinical areas of the hospitals.

Chris Rogers, HPRC project manager said: “This project provided valuable insights into the realities of implementing plastics recycling programs in clinical healthcare settings. What we learned is that collection of plastics must be made simple for clinical staff in order to be effective. Detailed sorting at the point of generation is too complex and a distant priority from clinician’s primary focus of ensuring positive patient outcomes. It’s also important to remember that behavioural change around recycling can be a slow process, one that takes constant reinforcement over time.”

In the grand scheme of things these type of initiatives can be seen as small steps. And can we ever apply the arguments of general plastics recycling to the highly-sensitive world of medical plastics? Often there is no option but to discard a device due to the health risk it poses another patient if re-used. And much more needs to be done to avoid the infection risk some medical waste may pose before we can recycle medical waste on anywhere near the same scale as general household plastic.

The world of medical plastic is complex. Just as designers and manufacturers continue to innovate to create devices that improve our health on a global scale, the materials and recycling industries are working to tackle issues of waste and disposal. There’s no quick-fix where medical plastics are concerned but at least we’re seeing a positive trend to tackle the serious and growing threat to our environment.