Case: Hospital wall covering
Wall covering
VinylPlus® & Raff Plastics & Renewi & Vescom
Plastic Recycling / Health by Design
Disposable medical devices from a growing network of Belgian hospitals are turned into aesthetic and long-lasting wall covering for healthcare facilities.
COVID-19 has highlighted the crucial role played by single-use plastic medical devices in the prevention and control of infection in hospitals. The surge in the need of such disposable items has shed light on the challenges of properly managing and discarding them after use. Properly sorting and recycling the non-infectious plastic waste can significantly reduce the environmental impact of hospitals and their operational cost.
In 2022, the VinylPlus® Med programme was initiated in Belgium. Through a collaboration between the waste management company Renewi, the plastics recycler Raff Plastics and the PVC industry, high quality PVC disposables from a growing number of hospitals is collected and recycled. The medical devices have not been in contact with infectious patients and are free of substances of concern.
The high quality, colorless medical PVC waste collected at hospitals can be turned into a wide range of useful products used in the healthcare sector. For instance, the Dutch company Vescom has produced vinyl wall covering that incorporates regrind PVC obtained through an environmentally benign process.
Vinyl (PVC) wall covering is hygienic, dimensionally stable, and resistant to chemicals. Due to its durability and shock-absorbent properties, vinyl is ideal for walls which must be protected from collisions with beds and other types of hospital equipment. Vinyl also helps to create a holistic architectural design expression and is easily recyclable.
