1. BD ecoFinity Life Cycle Solution
Fruit Loops - Niya Behl, Katie Hanus, Karly Hofmann
(BD ecoFinity)

2. The ecoFinity Life Cycle Solution
BD ecoFinity Life Cycle Solution: a program meant to reduce the amount of medical waste in landfills (BD and Waste)
Made by a collaboration between Becton Dickinson, a medical technology company, and Waste Management (BD and Waste)
Allows hospitals to safely and economically recycle medical sharps such as needles and syringes

3. THE PROBLEM
Because of risk of eventual infection of materials, medical products were always thrown away after one use
Problem: Sterilization methods often sterilized the equipment but left an unpleasant smell, trace amounts of blood, and the possibility of the plastic being altered (Patent)
Lack of proper handling can result in a poorly hygienic medical system that can infiltrate many medical care settings (Medical Waste US)

4. THE SOLUTION
The ecoFinity program disinfects and re-processes the waste which is then used to make products in which the plastic does not have to be new. (Anson)
Solution: Plastic waste from syringes are sterilized through radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation (Patent)
(Medical Waste Recycling)

5. The ecoFinity Life Cycle Solution
The process that the recycled medical waste goes through with the recently created solution can be seen in this image. (Anson)
(Plastics)

6. Relevance to Green Engineering
The more medical sharps are thrown away, the more waste there is the environment, an issue that concerns green engineering (Medical Waste US)
Could contaminate water and land masses
Affect marine life
What can be done?
Green engineering can be used to reduce the amount of waste going into the environment, which is what the ecoFinity program is all about.
Green engineering can help change the cycle of medical sharps.

7. The BD Program
At one hospital where the program was implemented, 38,000 pounds of sharps waste that would have been sent to the landfill were recycled
BD also estimated that more than 70% of medical sharps waste could be recovered and recycled for use in new products (BD and Waste )
BD recycles most of the waste
uses it in products (Plastics)
sells excess recycled materials to other recyclers (Anson)

8. History of the Program
The Medical Waste Tracking Act expired in 1991(Medical)
Left medical waste up to state governments
BD first implemented this program in 2011 at Rady Children’s Hospital in San Diego, California, and soon adopted by DaVita, a leading provider of kidney care in America, and Montefiore Medical Center based in New York (BD and Rady)
Montefiore recorded over 348,500 pounds of medical sharps waste collected and processed in around a year (Anson)
In 2011, the program was recognized with an award at the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) Global Plastics Environmental Conference (GPES) (Anson)

9. Implications of the BD Program
This program affects both the medical community and any company involved in recycling - hospitals and centers will have to agree to be a part of BD’s program and begin implementing the recycling (BD and Waste)
The reclaimed plastic will be recycled into medical waste containers (Plastics) that were mentioned as a part of the cycle that the medical waste goes through

10. Future Plans
BD hopes to continue working with partners like Waste Management to “green” other medical products (Anson)
While the recorded number of waste that could be saved, 70%, is pretty high, this still leaves room to grow (BD and Waste)
BD also plans to implement this program at different hospitals and centers, following what they have already done (Anson)
They hope to continue to work with Waste Management as well as gain other partners to continue their work (Anson)

11. Closing
Through the findings of the research that Becton Dickinson conducted, it can be said that this program is successful in reducing waste
It has been implemented at hospitals and medical centers already and has produced good results as it did in the original tests conducted by BD

12. Bibliography
Anson, Sam. “Plastics from Hazardous Sharps: The Green Shoots of… Recycling.” MPN Magazine, July-Aug Web. 1 Nov
“BD ecoFinity® Life Cycle Solution Environmental Life Cycle Analysis." Earth
Shift Global, BD, environmental-life-cycle-analysis-bd-ecofinity-whitepaper-ESG.pdf. Accessed 1 Nov
"BD and Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego Announce Innovative Pilot Project to Reduce Environmental Impact of Sharps Disposal; "Cradle to cradle" approach addresses every stage of a product's lifecycle." PR Newswire. Jan LexisNexis Academic Web. Date Accessed: 2 Oct
“BD and Waste Management Launch Initiative to Recycle Medical Sharps; Program
Can Help Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities Achieve Sustainability Goals."
LexisNexis Academic, PR Newswire Association, Incorporated, 13 Apr , &sr=HLEAD(BD+and+Waste+Management+Launch+Initiative+to+Recycle+Medical Sharps.)+AND+DATE+IS+april Accessed 4 Oct Editorial.

13. Bibliography Continued
"Medical Waste Recycling." Columbia University in the City of New York, Webmaster, environment.columbia.edu/know-where-throw/medical-waste-recycling. Accessed 1Nov
"Medical Waste." US Environmental Protection Agency, EPA,
medical-waste. Accessed 1 Nov
“Patent Issued for Plastic Reclaimed from Infectious Medical Waste and Medical
Devices Manufactured Therefrom." Health & Medicine Week 10 May 2013: Academic OneFile. Web. 4 Oct
"Plastic from Sharps Waste: The Green Shoots of … Recycling?" Medical Plastics
News, Rapid Life Sciences Ltd., 19 July 2012, plastic-from-sharps-waste%3A-the-green-shoots-of-%E2%80%A6-recycling%3F/ Accessed 01 Nov