Brightmark, Lewis Salvage partner to boost health care plastics recyclability

In an effort to reduce the amount of health care plastics that are landfilled in the U.S., San Francisco-based circular solutions company Brightmark is partnering with Lewis Salvage, an independently owned recycling company based in Warsaw, Indiana, as part of its Minimized Landfill Recycling Program.

According to Lewis Salvage, Warsaw is the “orthopedic manufacturing capital of the world.” By participating in the recycling program, the Brightmark Circularity Center in Ashley, Indiana, will receive plastics for recycling from medical device companies, orthopedic implant manufacturers and packaging companies that originally were bound for landfills and incinerators.

“We’re proud to play an important role in reducing the amount of health care plastic waste going to landfills, and our strategic partnership with Lewis Salvage is a significant step towards achieving this goal,” Brightmark founder and CEO Bob Powell says.

Brightmark says the U.S. produces approximately 6 million tons of medical waste annually and that plastics account for about 25 percent of that total.

“Our Plastics Renewal technology provides a crucial solution for recycling essential plastics at the end of their useful life, which assists vital sectors such as the health care, agriculture, manufacturing and transportation industries by providing a viable recycling solution that helps them achieve their sustainability goals and reduce their environmental footprints,” Powell says.

Brightmark says its circularity centers complement existing mechanical recycling systems, providing a circular solution that benefits communities with recycling infrastructure challenges.

The news of the partnership with Lewis Salvage follows Brightmark’s announcement of a $950 million investment in a new circularity center in Thomaston, Georgia.

"We have witnessed immense growth within the orthopedic manufacturing industry during our family's 100-year history in Northern Indiana," Cary Lewis, Owner & CEO of Lewis Salvage, said. "And we've seen that manufacturers are increasingly looking for ways to make the entire lifecycle of their products more sustainable and recycling processes more efficient. That's why we're so excited about our collaboration with Brightmark. We will be able to turn more types of plastic into circular products and beneficially reuse difficult to recycle materials."