On 24 September 2026, the EnCiMed (Enabling Circularity in Medical & Pharmaceutical Plastics) project officially kicked off at Brightlands Circular Space in Geleen. Together with TNO and various project partners, EnCiMed explores how medical and pharmaceutical plastic waste can be made suitable for safe recycling, contributing to a more circular healthcare sector.
Tackling a major challenge in medical plastic waste
Plastics are extensively used in single-use technologies in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors, both in the production of medicine and in delivering treatments. Thanks to their specific properties, these materials offer important benefits in terms of safety, hygiene and functionality. Thanks to their specific properties, these materials offer important benefits in terms of safety, hygiene and functionality.
However, these single-use materials also present a significant waste challenge. Much of the plastic waste generated by these industries is currently incinerated due to potential biohazardous contamination. As a result, valuable materials are lost instead of being recovered and recycled.
EnCiMed aims to address this challenge by investigating how medical and pharmaceutical plastic waste can be safely decontaminated, with the goal of enabling recycling while preserving material quality as much as possible.
Three key areas of research
The project focuses on three interconnected challenges that currently limit the recycling of medical and pharmaceutical plastics.
Decontamination
Conventional decontamination methods, such as autoclaving, use high temperatures that can damage certain plastic materials. EnCiMed investigates alternative technologies, including microwave, gamma and X-ray irradiation, to determine whether they can effectively decontaminate medical waste while preserving the material properties needed for further sorting and recycling.
Efficient sorting
Decontamination can be costly and energy-intensive. By investigating more efficient sorting and separation methods, the project aims to identify recyclable material streams and reduce treatment costs. This is an important step towards developing economically viable recycling processes.
Regulations and standards
Strict regulations surrounding the handling, treatment and transportation of potentially hazardous medical waste present additional challenges. EnCiMed examines the existing regulatory framework and identifies opportunities to enable safe, compliant recycling on a larger scale.
Collaboration across the value chain
Addressing these challenges requires expertise from different parts of the medical plastics value chain.
The EnCiMed consortium brings together TNO, BioBTX, SimpleComply, RENOLIT Healthcare, Evreka, Avantor, Janssen Biologics and IBA.
By combining knowledge of polymer materials, decontamination technologies, waste management and regulatory requirements, the partners aim to develop practical solutions that support more circular material use.
On 24 September, the project partners gathered at Brightlands Circular Space in Geleen for the official EnCiMed kick-off. During the meeting, they discussed the project’s objectives, research activities and next steps.
Towards a more circular healthcare sector
EnCiMed builds on earlier research into recycling pathways for single-use pharmaceutical and medical plastics. While these studies have shown promising recycling potential, safe decontamination, efficient sorting and regulatory compliance remain important barriers to practical implementation.
By addressing these challenges, EnCiMed aims to create the conditions needed to recover valuable materials that would otherwise be incinerated.
The project’s long-term ambition is to support scalable and economically viable recycling solutions that reduce environmental impact and help the medical and pharmaceutical industries transition towards a more circular future.