Kimberly-Clark Honours PPE Waste Diversion Leaders
The Kimberly-Clark (KC) Professional business unit of Texas-based global consumer products company Kimberly-Clark has listed nearly 50 companies as 2023 Greenovation Award winners for participating in its personal protective equipment (PPE) landfill diversion programme.
The companies were recognised for diverting a total of nearly 220 tonnes of discarded PPE from landfills in 2022 through the KC Professional RightCycle programme. The programme enables KC Professional customers to recycle single-use items such as garments, gloves, hoods, boot covers, masks and safety eyewear.
Some of the companies recognised for operating PPE recycling collection sites in 2022 (and the locations of those sites) include: Boston Scientific (Dorado, Puerto Rico), Catalent (Madison, Wisconsin), Cook Medical (Bloomington Indiana), Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing (Grand Rapids, Michigan), the Jackson Laboratory (Bar Harbor and Ellsworth, Maine), MilliporeSigma (Danvers, Massachusetts), Pfizer (Cambridge, Massachusetts), Philips (Reedsville, Pennsylvania), Promega (Fitchburg, Wisconsin), Purdue University (West Lafayette, Indiana), Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (Rensselaer, New York), and W. L. Gore (Phoenix, Arizona; Flagstaff, Arizona; and Elkton, Maryland).
Since its inception in 2011, the RightCycle Programme has helped more than 1,000 of its customers divert more than 2,250 tons of discarded PPE from landfills, according to KC Professional.
“Millipore Sigma has a long-standing commitment to sustainability and environmental stewardship, and the RightCycle programme made it easy for us to maintain that commitment and achieve our sustainability goals,” says Jameson Wentworth of medical products maker MilliporeSigma.
“Our customers have displayed exceptional leadership in sustainability through this programme as well as other initiatives to reduce their environmental impact,” says Ashley Davis, global sustainability manager of KC Professional. “We commend them on their accomplishments and wish them continued success on their sustainability journeys.”
KC says material collected through the RightCycle Programme is sent to “regional recycling partners” to become plastic pellets used to manufacture consumer products, including lawn furniture, benches, and bicycle racks.
The Greenovation Awards were established by KC Professional in 2013 to honour the PPE waste diversion role played by programme participants.
Source: Waste Today
