Recycling and waste management service provider MYGroup has partnered with Johnson & Johnson MedTech to enhance recycling efforts for diagnostic and surgical device packaging in the UK.  

This initiative aims to tackle the challenge of recycling complex medical waste, aligning with the NHS' Clinical Waste Strategy to reduce environmental impact. 

The collaboration involves the collection and recycling of various packaging materials from Johnson & Johnson MedTech, including suture foils, plastic packets, and trays.  

MYGroup's advanced facilities in Hull, East Yorkshire, will undertake the end-to-end recycling process. 

Through its advanced separation and recovery techniques, MYGroup will transform residual plastic into 'MYBoard', a plywood-like material used in construction and to create products for community use. 

Metal elements will be repurposed into aluminium for new product manufacturing. 

The partnership has already seen a successful proof-of-concept, with a MYBoard bench created from Johnson & Johnson MedTech's waste and now in use at latter’s Pinewood Campus. 

MYGroup's foray into clinical waste recycling commenced after receiving approval from the Environment Agency in October 2022.  

The latest initiative supports the NHS’ goal of eliminating avoidable waste, particularly single-use plastics, and reducing incineration, which currently stands at nearly 50,000t annually across the NHS. 

MYGroup director Steve Carrie said: “This collaboration with Johnson & Johnson will deliver a significant and lasting contribution to the NHS’ waste targets – particularly in diverting a large proportion of plastic from incineration – and our work will demonstrate the art of the possible: that there is no such thing as 'unrecyclable' waste, even from the most complex operating environments.”