Eastman (NYSE: EMN) has announced an agreement with Ethicon*, a Johnson & Johnson MedTech** Company, to source Eastman Renew materials for its medical device sterile-barrier packaging.

This is an important step to help reduce waste in the healthcare system and contribute to a more circular future for packaging of medical devices. With this agreement, Ethicon becomes the first healthcare company to use medical-grade Eastman Renew materials in its product packaging.

Ethicon will use Eastar^™ Renew 6763 copolyester for its medical device sterile barrier packaging. Eastar Renew 6763 and Eastar^™ 6763 copolyester, have the same durability, safety and performance; however, with Eastar Renew, companies can certify that plastic waste is being diverted from landfills to produce new packaging. Through this agreement, the goal is to divert waste volume equal to 25% of the weight of total packaging produced — with the potential to increase up to 50% by the end of 2023.

Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies hold great promise for helping healthcare companies increase their sustainability profiles. Using mechanically recycled materials in healthcare applications is not possible due to stringent purity and transparency requirements. Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies offer a path toward reducing plastic waste for the industry. By breaking down waste to its molecular building blocks, which are indistinguishable from virgin materials, they can be used to create high-performance polymers suitable for the medical industry. And because these technologies source plastic waste as feedstock, they leave fossil resources in the ground and result in lower greenhouse gas emissions.  

Visit eastman.com/circular for more information