VinylPlus Healthcare participated in the Nordic Dialogue Forum on Environmental Sustainability in Public Procurement 2026 in Malmö, Sweden, bringing the PVC medical value chain into discussions on future Nordic sustainability requirements for healthcare.
Held on 30 September 2026, the forum brought together Nordic healthcare procurement organisations, suppliers, industry associations and sustainability experts. The meeting also marked the launch of a Nordic Joint Statement on Sustainable and Ethical Healthcare Procurement, intended as a basis for closer cooperation between Nordic healthcare procurement organisations and greater alignment of sustainability and ethical requirements.
The programme focused particularly on two areas: reducing greenhouse gas emissions in healthcare supply chains and phasing out chemicals of concern. Roundtable discussions gave suppliers and industry representatives an opportunity to discuss how future requirements can be implemented in practice.
Keeping Procurement Science- and Function-Based
VinylPlus Healthcare participated in the discussion on chemicals and highlighted the importance of ensuring that sustainability requirements are based on specific substances, risks and functional performance, rather than blanket exclusions of materials.
PVC or vinyl remains widely used in healthcare because it combines properties such as flexibility, transparency, durability, sterilisation resistance and reliable performance in demanding medical applications. At the same time, the sector has evolved considerably: DEHP-free PVC is already established across most medical applications, while work continues on DEHP-free solutions for applications such as blood bags.
The discussion also covered the European Phase-Out List (EPOL), developed by Nordic healthcare procurement organisations in cooperation with Health Care Without Harm Europe. There is an ambition to use the list as a basis for greater Nordic alignment of procurement requirements.
VinylPlus Healthcare raised questions about PVC being included as a material in its own right, rather than focusing requirements on specific substances of concern.
Circularity Should Be Part of the Picture
VinylPlus Healthcare also stressed that procurement decisions should take account of developments across the full lifecycle of medical products.
European initiatives are demonstrating that clean PVC medical devices can be collected and mechanically recycled, while flexible medical PVC can undergo multiple recycling cycles. Through VinylPlus® PharmPack, new routes are also being developed for recycling PVC-based pharmaceutical blister packaging.
These developments underline the importance of assessing materials on their actual performance and environmental impacts rather than assuming that material substitution is automatically the more sustainable option.
VinylPlus Healthcare will continue engaging with Nordic and European healthcare procurement stakeholders to support scientifically robust, proportionate and function-based sustainability criteria.
Learn more about medical device and pharmaceutical blister packaging recycling.
