Westlake launches PVC recycling program with Houston Methodist Hospital

Westlake Global Compounds and Marietta, Ohio-based Westlake Dimex, two business units of Houston-based Westlake Corp., have launched Choose Pink, a pilot polyvinyl chloride (PVC) recycling program with Houston Methodist.

The program will take place at the Outpatient Center (OPC) at Houston Methodist Hospital and is the first of its kind at a health care system in Houston, according to Westlake.

The Choose Pink pilot recycling program will establish a collection system for postpatient 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, which Westlake says 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 semitrailer 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,” says Jason Fischer, director of the office of sustainability at 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.”

“Westlake is pleased to collaborate with Houston Methodist for this unique opportunity to collect postpatient PVC materials from outpatient procedures and reprocess them into durable consumer goods,” says Andy Antil, general manager of Westlake Dimex. “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, Westlake says. Other programs have 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 Westlake, the recycled material collected from Houston Methodist will be reprocessed into consumer and industrial products, including business and home office chair matting, garden edging, dock edging, control joints, cord protectors, industrial vinyl and rubber runner matting and household mats.