Packaging for a better planet

Last year, we shared an ambitious carbon reduction goal that all Stryker facilities will be carbon neutral by 2030. But our sustainability journey expands beyond migrating to renewable energy sources and lowering energy consumption. Learn how our design teams are developing packaging that helps our products reach customers safely and with lower environmental impact.

In 2020, over 32 billion pounds of healthcare plastics were produced globally, and this number is expected to grow to 48 billion pounds by 2025.¹ It’s a stark reality that has unintended environmental consequences, and our teams are focused on taking steps to reduce our environmental impact through the development of sustainable packaging.

Stryker recently became a member of the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC), an organization that brings together a technical consortium of industry peers across the healthcare, recycling, and waste management industries to improve the recyclability of plastic products and packaging within healthcare. Through this partnership, Stryker will engage in multiple initiatives aimed at enabling recycling of healthcare plastics, including research into advanced recycling technologies to recycle mixed stream healthcare plastics, a study of reverse logistics processes for collecting, segregating, and preparing healthcare plastic waste for transport, and focused outreach and engagement with recyclers.​​​​​​​ It’s a relationship that allows us to share our advancements in packaging with peers while also exploring advanced recycling technologies from industry experts. This partnership will allow us to impact the healthcare plastics waste stream in a meaningful way.

As we continue our focus on sustainable packaging, we hope to build upon the trust that customers have in us by offering more sustainable solutions. Learnings from each sustainability and recyclability project are being shared across the organization and added to our packaging design process and practices.

"We believe HPRC is an influential partner that can drive sustainability improvements across the healthcare value chain, and we are excited to become an official member,” said Erol Odabasi, our director of sustainability. “In collaboration with our global healthcare customers, our future strategy and goals are aligned with the vision and mission of HPRC to reduce the environmental impact of products and packaging.”

References

1. Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council. ‘Inspiring and enabling plastic recycling solutions in healthcare.’ Accessed 2 November 202021. Link: https://www.hprc.org/about-hprc