This collection is being created to regroup all case studies related to the packaging industry (CAT purpose)

large_agenlaku-indonesia-SRFOOdORhKw-unsplash.jpg

medium_agenlaku-indonesia-SRFOOdORhKw-unsplash.jpg

small_agenlaku-indonesia-SRFOOdORhKw-unsplash.jpg

thumbnail_agenlaku-indonesia-SRFOOdORhKw-unsplash.jpg

agenlaku-indonesia-SRFOOdORhKw-unsplash.jpg

Packaging collection

thumbnail_Starter kit image.JPG

Starter kit image.JPG

Starter Kit collection

Business case

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Providing healthcare services, such as hospitals, medical facilities and patient care services, medical research and clinical trial services, pharmaceuticals and drug development, and genetic engineering services

Healthcare Services

Collecting waste from households and businesses by means of refuse bins, wheeled bins, containers, etc., and providing treatment, incineration, materials recovery and reclamation, and disposal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste

Waste Management

Producing basic and specialty chemicals, inks, agricultural chemical such as fertilisers and pesticides, plastics including packaging, and rubber

Chemical and Plastic

Transforming waste products into materials and lower value products within other industries

Open loop downcycling

Make collected and sorted recyclables available for use by citizens, small businesses up to large scale industrial processes. 

Use recyclables

Implementation of strategies to collect recyclable waste in order to make it accessible and available to be used as an input in industrial processes (big or small). These are door-to-door collection (higher recovery rates but more costly intensive), drop-off schemes (cheaper but less effective, more common in cities with high housing density), or a combination of the two, and their corresponding incentive schemes. 

Collect recyclables

Collection of waste arising from commercial and industrial actors

Collect non residential

Other

Impacts

small_climate-4803653_640.jpg

thumbnail_climate-4803653_640.jpg

climate-4803653_640.jpg

Industries

small_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

thumbnail_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

large_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

medium_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

small_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

thumbnail_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

Urban Opportunities

![Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png](https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Screen_Shot_2024_10_21_at_16_53_12_12858da6aa.png)

Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

medium_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

small_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

thumbnail_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png


Stanford Healthcare partnered with the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council in Summer 2012 to conduct a pilot study documenting the following: 


Recyclable material type, volume, and flow through target departments in the hospital


Clinical recycling process, including lessons learned and process recommendations


Process of establishing a recycling program within the clinical setting


Plastics represented nearly 70 percent of all recyclable materials analyzed during the pilot study.
With over 20,000 pounds of plastics collected, the pilot case study facilitated a better understanding of plastics in the medical waste stream and best practices in collection, transport, and minimizing potential for contamination. With this understanding, HPRC aims to help further develop a national recycling system that is safe, repeatable, economically viable and environmentally sound through long-term landfill avoidance.
Clinical Recycling Process Overview
The Stanford/ HPRC study focused on clean, dry, recyclable packaging material collected from targeted clinical areas. The process starts at packaging design, moves through sorting and organization within the hospital, and ends with the actual recycling of the plastics–converting them into new materials.
Waste Audit Process
Waste audits were conducted as part of thew initiation and maintenance of the clinical recycling programs (noted in data as either ‘Quality Waste Audit’, or, ‘Initial Waste Audit’, respectively). The audits, performed over a specific time-frame in each department, between 24 and 48 hours, offer a snapshot in time of departmental waste profile. 
The clinical recycling pilot study results are significant. In the hospital’s nine target areas alone, approximately 110 tons of clean, dry packaging material will be diverted from landfill in one year, representing a 29% diversion rate. Plastics account for roughly 75% of all recyclables studied in the nine target clinical areas. The plastics are generated largely during case setup in sterile environments, offering pristine materials for collection as recyclables. 
Process Recommendations for Successful Recycling
1. Minimize additional processing at each step of waste management
Minimize labor demands associated with recycling along each step of the waste management process. Stanford makes recycling convenient for each waste processor in the following ways:​ 


Folding recycling into existing waste management process


Reducing number of environmental services waste collection rounds necessary in recycling zones once activated


Negotiating collection of film plastic peel packs whole (un-separated)


2. Collect waste at point of generation
By assessing waste flow and placing collection bins in these areas (procedural areas and patient care areas) , we capture valuable recyclables while limiting access to recycling bins in this high-traffic department, minimizing contamination.
3. Provide visual cues at every step of the process
Stanford has established collection bins (blue with chasing arrows) and bags (mint green specialty bags) that visually cue recycling along each step of the clinical waste management process. Recycling guide posters and labels are placed in highly visible areas on or near recycling bins. In the fast-paced flow of hospital clinical and operations setting, increased visibility establishes and maintains awareness, maximizing quality.
Financial Benefits of Waste Diversion
Stanford Hospital & Clinics’ comprehensive waste minimization program directly reduces operational expenses, benefiting the organization’s bottom line. The commingled recycling program developed in partnership with Greenwaste offers a 75% cost savings per open-container pull, compared with municipal waste disposal costs.


large_blob

medium_blob

small_blob

thumbnail_blob

blob

 Stanford Medical 

Greenwaste

Stanford University Medical Center

<p>Medical facilities generate a considerable amount of waste, including packaging materials, which can have negative environmental impacts. Stanford University Medical Center recognized the potential to repurpose medical waste and reduce their environmental impact.</p>