The growing and lucrative market for recycling medical waste has led to the formation of Renew Blue Industries, which has announced that it will open its first processing center in Sherman, TX, in February 2015. The company anticipates creating more than 100 jobs in the area by processing non-hazardous polypropylene (PP) medical waste, commonly called blue wrap, along with other other noncontaminated PP products.

As PlasticsToday reported in 2012, the use of polypropylene (PP) in sterilization blue wrap has proliferated in recent years. "Used to protect patient gowns, medical devices, and surgical instruments, PP has become ubiquitous in operating rooms because of its ability to resist tearing and provide a barrier to prevent contamination following sterilization," wrote Doug Smock. "The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates it accounts for 19% of all operating room waste."

Waste from the operating room is the single largest contributor of solid waste in hospitals, according to Renew Blue, citing an unnamed hospital waste stream study.

Medical waste disposal services is a $5 billion industry that has recorded 4.7% growth between 2009 and 2014, according to a market report from IbisWorld, a business analysis company based in Santa Monica, CA.

Located about 40 miles north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area, Sherman wooed Renew Blue with a $400,000 incentive grant to help offset investments of $150,000 in building renovation and $1 million in manufacturing equipment, reports areadevelopment.com.

The company plans to begin hiring in mid-January 2015.