Technipaq Vows to Divert Medical Packaging Waste from Landfills in Partnership with DuPont Tyvek, Freepoint
The medical packaging company will ship manufacturing-generated plastic waste to Freepoint, where it will be converted into new, virgin-quality resin and fuel.
September 16, 2021
Starting on World Cleanup Day, Sept. 18, medical packaging provider Technipaq Inc. said that it will be able to begin diverting manufacturing-generated plastic waste away from landfills to advanced recycling company Freepoint Eco-Systems, where it will be converted into new, virgin-quality resin and fuel. Technipaq manufactures flexible packaging and is a Tyvek Authorized Converter. Tyvek producer DuPont is also a partner in this project.
Certified to ISO 13485, Technipaq specializes in coating, laminating, printing, slitting, sheeting, die-cutting, and fabricating flexible sterilizable packaging for medical device and pharmaceutical applications. It maintains an extensive selection of custom stock laminates and specializes in converting Tyvek, foils, films, and surgical papers into high-barrier ETO-, radiation- and autoclave-compatible packaging.
As part of the initiative announced today, Technipaq will ship the mixed plastic waste from its Crystal Lake, IL, facility to Houston-based startup Freepoint, which employs pyrolysis technology to process difficult-to-recycle plastic waste.
Calling the initiative a multi-stakeholder partnership designed to build a waste-free, closed-loop manufacturing environment, John Richard, Vice President, DuPont Safety, noted that recyclability of medical packaging manufacturing waste is an "increasingly important topic for the industry as it seeks to achieve sustainable solutions and a circular economy. Bringing a market leader such as Technipaq into this initiative marks a significant, positive step forward for our industry overall.”
Freepoint Eco-Systems said that it aspires to divert 170 million pounds of plastic waste from landfills at its facilities on an annual basis — the equivalent of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from up to 55,000 cars per facility. A wholly owned member of the Freepoint Commodities group of companies, Freepoint Eco-Systems was founded in 2020. It’s not clear from the information made available or that can be sourced online that it currently operates any recycling facilities. We have asked Freepoint to clarify and will update this article once we hear back.
Tyvek is composed mostly of high-density polyethylene and is certified 100% recyclable, making it compatible with mechanical and advanced recycling techniques. Tyvek’s unique combination of properties allow for mono-material structures, for example, that meet sustainable design guidelines established by the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council.
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