Spectrum Plastics Group gives Tyvek® based healthcare packaging manufacturing waste a second life

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To help celebrate America Recycles Day, DuPont is sharing additional successful collaborations with our value chain partners in helping enable a healthcare packaging manufacturing world where waste is always reduced, reused, repurposed or recycled, and not landfilled or incinerated. We are proud to highlight the efforts of Spectrum Plastics Group, an Authorized Converter of DuPont Tyvek^®, towards repurposing Tyvek^® manufacturing waste. Spectrum is a manufacturer of healthcare packaging made with Tyvek®, and a leader in development through scaled manufacturing of critical polymer-based components and devices for medical and other demanding markets. Together, we are proud to enable healthcare packaging solutions without compromise, helping save millions of lives worldwide.

Continuing on our sustainability journey, we recognize that the bridge to successful waste minimization is built using collaborative linkages at key waste generation points in the value chain, which requires a combination of factors, such as knowledge of recycling methodologies best suited for one’s manufacturing environment, commitment to investing in resources for long lasting impact, and integrating multidisciplinary expertise – designing for recyclability and polymer processing, to name a few.

Spectrum is the first Tyvek^® Authorized Converter to invest in recycling capabilities on-site at their Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin facility where Tyvek^® based healthcare packaging is produced. Tyvek^® is mainly made of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and certified 100% recyclable, making it well-suited for mechanical recycling. 

As part of a jointly sponsored sustainability initiative with DuPont, Spectrum conducted trials early this year and determined that scrap Tyvek^® could be easily converted into reusable HDPE pellets.  Moving forward, Spectrum’s plan is to utilize the re-processed Tyvek^® HDPE manufacturing waste generated at Pleasant Prairie in applications that expressly allow for the inclusion of recycled materials, for instance industrial films and bags. 

“While recycling extrusion is currently practiced by DuPont’s Luxembourg site, achieving Sustainability means minimizing waste along the healthcare packaging manufacturing value chain. This would not be possible without the commitment of our partners to invest in infrastructure which enables Tyvek^® and other plastic waste to be effectively redeployed in other applications,” said John Richard, Vice President, DuPont Safety.

“As part of our broader ESG initiatives, Spectrum Plastics Group shares DuPont’s commitment to minimizing process waste in our manufacturing and we are proud to partner with DuPont on this circular venture to reprocess and reuse manufacturing waste containing Tyvek^®,” said John Wolf, President, Films Division, Spectrum Plastics Group.