Smith+Nephew Joins Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council to Support Medical Packaging Circularity

According to company reports, Smith+Nephew has joined the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC), expanding the industry group’s membership as healthcare manufacturers increase efforts to improve plastics recycling and packaging circularity.

Smith+Nephew develops medical technologies across orthopaedics, sports medicine, ear-nose-throat surgery and advanced wound management. The company said its sustainability strategy focuses on packaging design, recycled content adoption and material standardisation, areas that align with HPRC’s ongoing recycling initiatives.

HPRC works with healthcare manufacturers, recyclers and supply chain participants to address barriers limiting plastics recycling in medical settings, where strict regulatory, sterility and material performance requirements often complicate waste recovery.

The organisation said Smith+Nephew brings experience in packaging engineering, sterilisation systems and regulatory compliance, capabilities viewed as important for advancing recyclable healthcare packaging without compromising product safety standards.

“We’re excited to add Smith+Nephew to our growing membership,” shared Tracy Taszarek, Executive Director of HPRC. “They bring significant expertise as a global medical technology manufacturer, with deep experience in medical device packaging engineering, sterilization methods, and regulatory and quality compliance-capabilities that are critical to overcoming barriers in healthcare plastics recycling.”

Smith+Nephew said its environmental, social and governance strategy includes increasing use of recyclable and renewable packaging materials, expanding mono-material packaging formats and working with suppliers to incorporate more post-consumer recycled content.

“As a global medical technology leader, our ESG efforts aim for packaging that supports product safety, quality and sustainability,” said Katya Hantel, vice president of ESG at Smith+Nephew. “We’re thrilled to be joining HPRC and contributing to transformative solutions for healthcare plastics sustainability.”

HPRC is currently involved in several projects focused on improving recyclability across healthcare systems, including assessments of recycling infrastructure, packaging labelling standardisation and development of scalable recycling models for hospitals and clinical facilities.

The healthcare sector has faced increasing scrutiny over plastic waste generation, particularly for single-use products and sterile packaging materials. At the same time, manufacturers are under pressure to balance sustainability targets with infection prevention, regulatory compliance and product traceability requirements.

Industry groups and healthcare companies have increasingly focused on material simplification and recovery systems as potential pathways to improve recycling rates in medical waste streams that have traditionally been difficult to process.

Source: The Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC)

SUNSHINE Spotlight: Healthcare manufacturers are placing greater emphasis on packaging design and material standardisation as the sector works to improve plastics recyclability without compromising regulatory and safety requirements.