Q and A: The role of single-use plastics during the pandemic
MPN editor Laura Hughes sat down with Alexander Silvestre, global director, healthcare at INEOS Styrolution Americas, to discuss the role of single-use plastics during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Please explain a little bit about yourself, and your role within your organization.
I am responsible for setting the strategic and commercial direction for our company within the healthcare industry. Additionally, I develop and maintain our global policy to establish guidelines related to our products for pharmaceutical applications and use in medical devices.
Do you think single-use plastics have been essential for the healthcare sector during the Covid-19 pandemic?
As we’ve mitigated our way through this pandemic, implementing measures to limit the spread of infection has become increasingly paramount. There is no denying that single-use applications have advantages in this regard. As the name implies, single-use medical devices are used for one procedure, and then discarded. For applications with potential to be in contact with biohazardous materials, a single-use application, when properly used and disposed of, can help control the spread of infection.
What do you feel are the benefits that single-use plastics offer as opposed to reusable plastics within this field?
Generally, plastics are not categorized by single-use versus reusable. This definition refers to how the end application becomes utilized. In fact, some polymers can be used in both situations. The key is for plastic suppliers to work with the medical device manufacturer to determine product suitability.
If single-use plastics are to play a key role within our healthcare sector going forward, what needs to change, if anything?
I don’t believe that anything needs to change drastically. Rather, it is important to strengthen relationships between medical device manufacturers and raw material suppliers throughout the development process.
For decades, plastics have been established as a primary raw material for diverse applications across healthcare sub-segments (labware, respiratory and drug delivery, IV and fluid transfer, mobile/digital health, surgical devices, and medical packaging).
Through the material selection process, medical device designers should balance achieving certain physical or chemical properties while ensuring that the products are compliant with current and future trends.
Enhancing collaboration with supply partners helps medical device OEMs successfully bring improved products to market, and benefit the patient and/or healthcare provider, all while meeting regulatory mandates.
Do you think the Covid-19 pandemic has transformed the way people see single-use plastics?
At the onset of this pandemic, there was an overwhelming global outcry that medical professionals had appropriate equipment. Here is one thing that I hope people take away with respect to this crisis and plastics: Whether it was related to the diagnosis of the disease (blood analysis kits), treatment of patients (ventilators, IV sets), or personal protective equipment (face shields), plastics were a key component of those respective supply chains helping medical device manufacturers quickly produce and ship equipment to frontline healthcare professionals.