Collaboration will bring Recycled Plastic to Medical Device Packaging

Eastman has announced an agreement with Ethicon, a Johnson & Johnson company, to source Eastman Renew materials for its sterile-barrier medical device packaging.

Eastar Renew 6763 is a copolyester made with Eastman’s molecular recycling technology, which uses plastic waste as feedstock but produces a resin with properties indistinguishable from those of Eastman’s regular version of the 6763 copolyester. 

The goal of the collaboration is to divert waste from landfills equivalent to 25% of the total packing produced. A future goal is to increase this ratio to 50% by 2023.

Mechanically recycled plastics are not used in medical applications due to purity and clarity requirements. Molecular or chemical recycling allow brands to circumvent this problem, by providing a plastics feedstock that is virtually identical to resin created with fossil fuels.

Eastman’s business model includes using both postconsumer and postindustrial plastic waste for its recycling process, according to a company spokesperson. In September, Eastman announced an agreement with Interzero for the purchase of up to 20,000 ton/yr of PET household packaging waste.

Eastman’s molecular recycling facility in Normandy, France, is planned to be operational by 2025 and have a capacity of 160,000 ton/yr.