Highest Rated Comments


joyofjacquie128 karma

Yes, totally agree. Companies need to take end of life for product, packaging and distribution into account at the design stage. This will be how a real impact will be made.

joyofjacquie92 karma

Technically speaking, the differences lie in the amount of mixed plastics and the potential of the waste being classified as biohazardous. Many of the products used in biopharma manufacturing have multiple types of plastics that are very difficult to separate. In our first attempt we tried to segregate and separate the different devices/products and then the plastics. This became a manual and labor intensive process with very little return on the plastics that were separated out. )not to mention the safety concerns ) We couldn't use this same process for biohazardous waste and so we needed to find something that could shred and sterilize before segregation. The process that Triumvirate is using is unique in that they can handle the bio-waste, shred and sterilize it and then create a product out of the mixed (almost valueless) plastic shred.

Yes, this process could be used for municipal plastic waste, however, many of the items in municipal streams are easily segregated and can be recycled into items of greater value.

joyofjacquie39 karma

We don't take path lab waste. There really is no better way to deal with these types of waste today other than controlled incineration. We are also not able to take hazardous (chemical) waste in this system. We conduct a waste audit before enrolling a customer in the program to ensure that none of these types of wastes are included.

joyofjacquie33 karma

It is commercially viable and has been for years. China has not stopped all imports of plastics. They are the world's largest manufacturer of plastic goods and use recycled content where possible. What they have stopped is the mixed waste streams. The Chinese need a cleaner, higher quality plastic that can easily be used in their production. Many "plastic" shipments to China in the past contained items that were not plastic (actual waste).

joyofjacquie26 karma

Great example of the constant battle we have when designing something that meets the needs for the product but may not be easily recycled in today's technologies. That's why I think I like to focus on the technologies that can handle the difficult waste streams! Because the EVOH layer may be extending the life of the food that is inside the package and helping to decrease the amount of food that is wasted due to spoilage!