VinylPlus Healthcare has visited Lyon to follow the French operational demonstration of medical vinyl recycling, from hospital collection to sorting, dismantling and preparation for recycling.
Organised together with Terra, the visit provided an opportunity to see how the French project is developing in practice. The programme included a visit to Hôpital Edouard Herriot to better understand the logistics behind the collection of used single-use medical devices, followed by a visit to the dismantling unit operated by social economy enterprise ELISE.
At the hospital, VinylPlus Healthcare was introduced to the practical organisation of the collection scheme, including how non-contaminated, DEHP-free medical devices can be separated at source and collected in dedicated containers. Correct sorting at hospital level is essential to ensure that only suitable, non-infectious and recyclable material enters the recycling stream.
The French project is currently focused on selected, well-defined medical device streams. In addition to PVC tubing, the project also includes the co-collection of polycarbonate laryngoscope blades, showing how a controlled model can gradually generate learning for several recyclable healthcare plastics while remaining anchored in medical vinyl recycling.
The visit to ELISE showed the next step in the process: sorting and dismantling. VinylPlus® partner Gerflor France also took part in this part of the visit, underlining the importance of connecting hospital collection and dismantling with potential downstream recycling routes. At ELISE, non-vinyl components are removed from the collected devices before the clean PVC fraction is prepared for recycling. This step is important for securing a high-quality material stream that can be directed towards suitable recycling routes.
The initiative is being developed in close dialogue with the healthcare plastics value chain. Medtronic is involved in the French project, and ongoing work is taking place to bring more medical device producers on board. Producer involvement is important because it can support better knowledge of product composition, improve documentation, and help ensure that only suitable, DEHP-free medical devices are included in the recycling stream.
For VinylPlus Healthcare, the Lyon visit underlined the importance of practical, value chain-based collaboration. Medical vinyl is widely used in healthcare because of its performance, flexibility, transparency and reliability. When collected correctly after use, clean PVC medical devices can also become a valuable resource rather than being sent to incineration.
The visit forms part of VinylPlus Healthcare’s wider work to support collection and recycling initiatives for non-contaminated PVC medical devices in Europe. The objective is to help hospitals reduce waste, improve sorting practices and contribute to a more circular healthcare sector through controlled, documented and scalable recycling models.
