Houston Methodist and Westlake Launch Pilot Program to Recycle PVC Materials
September 04 2024 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
First-of-its-kind collaboration in Houston
will reprocess items into consumer products
Westlake Global Compounds and Westlake Dimex, business units of
Westlake Corporation (NYSE: WLK), today announced the launch of
“Choose Pink,” a pilot polyvinyl chloride (PVC) recycling program
with Houston Methodist. The program is the first-of-its-kind at a
health care system in Houston and will take place at the Outpatient
Center (OPC) at Houston Methodist Hospital, the hospital’s flagship
location in the Texas Medical Center.
The Choose Pink pilot recycling program will establish a
collection system for post-patient, PVC items such as nasal
cannulas and masks; oxygen tubing; and saline bags from outpatient
procedures, items traditionally disposed of in the hospital
setting. These items will be collected in designated hampers and
bags to contain the recycled waste, which will eliminate the need
for further material sorting in this program. Bags will be
collected and placed into containers and transported to a Houston
Methodist warehouse to be loaded onto a semi-trailer that, once
filled, will be transported to Westlake Dimex’s facility in
Marietta, Ohio for recycling.
“This pilot PVC recycling program is an opportunity for our
clinical technicians to divert a substantial amount of material
from landfills and into a system where these items may be
reformatted for other use,” said Jason Fischer, director of the
office of sustainability, Houston Methodist. “At our core, Houston
Methodist strives to help people live longer, healthier and happier
lives. That commitment, combined with our culture of innovation,
extends to the stewardship of our environment. We look forward to
this recycling collection system augmenting our ongoing
sustainability efforts.”
PVC is a versatile material that is primarily used in long-term
goods. For more than 70 years, PVC medical devices have allowed
patients and health care professionals to access a range of health
care applications for screening, diagnosis, treatment and care. By
collecting and recycling single-use healthcare applications, there
is opportunity to reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint and
prevent sending waste to landfills.
“Westlake is pleased to collaborate with Houston Methodist for
this unique opportunity to collect post-patient PVC materials from
outpatient procedures and reprocess them into durable consumer
goods,” said Andy Antil, general manager of Westlake Dimex, a
compounder of recycled polymers. “Once a truckload of the Choose
Pink PVC is collected, it will be transported to Westlake Dimex
where the material will be weighed, reground, reused and processed
into new products such as commercial and retail runner matting,
exercise equipment matting, dock edging, and cord protection
products.”
Houston Methodist will be the first health care facility to
launch a PVC recycling program in the Houston area. Other programs
have successfully been launched for PVC medical devices in other
countries, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Belgium,
Guatemala and the United Kingdom. A PVC medical device recycling
program has been underway in Toronto, Canada since 2020, and other
programs have recently launched in Atlanta, Chicago and Rochester,
New York. According to the Vinyl Institute, 1.1 billion pounds of
vinyl is recycled annually in North America, reducing the carbon
footprint and preventing waste from entering landfills.
Based on the more than 100 million pounds’ capacity of plastic
recycled materials Westlake Dimex processes annually, the Marietta,
Ohio-based company is one of the largest processors of
post-industrial resins in the U.S. The recycled material collected
from Houston Methodist will be reprocessed into consumer and
industrial products such as business and home office chair matting;
garden edging; profile products for the marine (dock edging),
masonry construction (control joints), and electrical cord and
cable management (cord protectors); industrial vinyl and rubber
runner matting; as well as household mats for all parts of the
home.
About Westlake
Westlake acquired Westlake Dimex in September 2021 as part of
its commitment to sustainability and organized it within its
Westlake Global Compounds integrated business. Westlake Global
Compounds’ flexible and rigid vinyl compounds are used in a variety
of healthcare products including renal tubing and dialysis kits;
infusion and perfusion tubing and IV accessories; respiratory
tubing and masks; biotech reproduction cannulas; medical containers
and bottles; blood storage; and urology catheters. Westlake
Corporation is a global manufacturer and supplier of materials and
innovative products that enhance life every day. Headquartered in
Houston, with operations in Asia, Europe and North America, we
provide the building blocks for vital solutions — from housing and
construction, to packaging and healthcare, to automotive and
consumer. For more information, visit the company’s web site at
www.westlake.com.
About Houston Methodist
Houston Methodist is one of the nation’s leading health systems
and academic medical centers. The health system consists of eight
hospitals: Houston Methodist Hospital, its flagship academic
hospital in the Texas Medical Center, six community hospitals and
one long-term acute care hospital throughout the Greater Houston
metropolitan area. Houston Methodist also includes a research
institute; a comprehensive residency program; international patient
services; freestanding comprehensive care, emergency care and
imaging centers; and outpatient facilities. Houston Methodist
employs more than 32,000 people and had more than 2.1 million
outpatient visits and more than 141,000 admissions in 2022. For
more information on Houston Methodist, see
houstonmethodist.org.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240904584240/en/
Westlake: Chip Swearngan; mediarelations@westlake.com or 1-
713-960-9111
Houston Methodist: Laureen Lucas, llucas@llpublicrelations.com
or 832-671-8787
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