Cleaning up Our Plastics for Recycling
Originally Published by: American Recycler
Not surprising, biopharma plastic recycling isn’t as simple as recycling ordinary plastic. In fact, approximately 30,000 tons of biopharma single use plastic products are landfilled or incinerated each year. One of the key reasons for this lack of recyclability is that biopharma plastics often contain a mixture of silicon, polyethylene and polypropylene – materials that are difficult to separate. In addition, purifying these types of plastics has also proven to be very difficult.
As Jacqueline Ignacio Hollands, global manager, customer sustainability solutions, at MilliporeSigma explained, when it comes to plastic purification, it’s important to define cleaning versus decontamination or sterilizing.
