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Delivering sustainable innovation for sterile packaging

A case study on Olympus adopting �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution to incorporate certified renewable materials into packaging without impacting global manufacturing or the validation processes

Developing a sustainable healthcare packaging solution requires lowering environmental impact without compromising patient safety. This balance is challenging in a highly regulated, risk‑averse industry where every material change must be rigorously proven safe. Meaningful progress, therefore, depends on close collaboration across the value chain to ensure that sustainability does not come at the expense of safety.

Olympus Corporation, a global MedTech leader, has collaborated with ���Ǵ��� to introduce more environmentally responsible packaging for its single-use endotherapeutic devices worldwide. Starting in 2026, Olympus will incorporate ���Ǵ���™ �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution into sterile packaging for over 100 device categories.¹ This solution is linked to a certified mass balance approach to integrate renewable feedstocks that reduce reliance on fossil-derived raw materials while maintaining packaging performance. �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution provides approximately a one-third reduction in CO2 emissions, delivering an immediate environmental gain. The first phase will launch at Olympus facilities in Japan and Vietnam, with plans to expand globally. 

At the same time, sterile packaging plays a critical role in patient safety, ensuring that medical devices remain free from contamination from the point of manufacture to the point of use. Sterile packaging must allow for effective sterilization and maintain sterility throughout the product’s life cycle. In practice, plastics remain the dominant choice for sterile packaging because their toughness and durability provide the most reliable protection. Because this performance is difficult to achieve with alternative materials, advancing the circularity of plastics themselves becomes essential for reducing environmental impact without compromising patient safety.

Regulatory frameworks add another layer of complexity. In Europe, medical device packaging is regulated by the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR).⁹ Companies providing solutions to the European market must comply with standards that demonstrate compliance with the MDR. One key standard concerning healthcare packaging is ISO 11607, which stipulates that “The source, history and traceability, especially recycled materials, shall be known and controlled to ensure that the preformed sterile barrier system and/or sterile barrier system will consistently meet the requirements of this document.”¹⁰ Thus, for broad-based adoption by the value chain, it is crucial that innovations enhancing circularity are introduced into sterile packaging in a manner that seamlessly facilitates compliance with regulatory requirements, making this an extremely complex and challenging endeavor.

For these reasons, the healthcare packaging industry remains largely linear and dependent on virgin-grade, fossil-derived raw materials. Achieving a circular economy with scalable, safe and compliant solutions calls for systemic change and cross-industry collaboration.
 

Solution

The polymer industry faces growing pressure to reduce dependence on fossil resources while maintaining the performance and scale of existing products. 

While the technologies needed to make plastics from renewable feedstocks already exist, the global availability of renewable feedstocks remains insufficient to support dedicated, largescale infrastructure for entirely renewable polymer production. According to PlasticsEurope¹¹, bio-based and bio-attributed plastics represented only about 1% of Europe’s total plastics production in 2024. Concurrently, typically less than 5% of the input can be substituted due to cost of alternative raw materials and technology limitations¹². Although alternative feedstocks could be high volumes in absolute terms, claiming products with less than 5% bio-based content would not be attractive enough to drive demand.

Therefore, to accelerate the integration of renewable raw materials without waiting for fully segregated supply chains, the polymer industry employs the mass balance approach.¹³ Under the mass balance approach, renewable and fossil-based feedstocks can be co-processed in existing manufacturing facilities, and the renewable quantities can be attributed to products at meaningful levels (for example, 30% attribution). Rather than physical segregation, the attribution of renewable raw materials is managed through a certified and audited accounting system.

Learn how �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution can help make it possible at

tyvek.com/RenewableAttribution

Transitioning to more circular raw material use

Polymer companies have introduced renewable raw materials, such as first- and second-generation feedstocks, ranging from edible agricultural products (e.g., sugarcane) to waste and residues from the food industry (e.g., vegetable oils). While there are many technologies for incorporating these renewable feedstocks to produce polyolefins, the most widely adopted method is a bio-naphtha steam cracking pathway. ^{14 15}

Used cooking oil (UCO) stand out as a promising resource among renewable feedstock alternatives because of its availability and compability with existing production infrastructure. Similar to fossil feedstock, UCO can be introduced into the polyolefin production process after comprehensive pre-treatment (removal of impurities, such as water, trace metals and other residues) and refining to meet stringent feedstock specifications. The refined UCO then undergoes hydrodeoxygenation, a process where oxygen is removed and the oil is transformed into a mixture of saturated linear and branched-chain hydrocarbons, known as bio-naphtha. This is a high-quality feedstock that can be processed in steam crackers in an identical manner to fossil-derived naphtha. ^{16 17 18}

Steam cracking is a high-temperature process that breaks down hydrocarbon feedstocks, such as fossil and bio-naphtha, into smaller molecules, primarily ethylene and propylene. Ethylene is the simples olefin, composed of a two-carbon backbone with a carbon-carbon double bond and four attached hydrogen atoms. It is a colorless, flammable gas at normal temperature and pressure, and its double bond makes it highly reactive and widely used to produce plastics like polyethylene. Because ethylene is ethylene, whether derived from fossil or renewable raw materials, the use of renewable feedstocks represents a compelling approach to help enable sustainability in healthcare packaging. In addition, since etyhlene cannot be distinguished by source (i.e., fossil or renewable-derived), a mass balance approach is needed to attribute the quantities of renewable-derived ethylene to final products on a bookkeeping basis. ¹⁹

���Ǵ��� sources high-density polyethylene (HDPE) that meets stringent specifications. 

Renewable raw materials are attributed to HDPE using the mass balance approach through Sustainability Declarations under the ISCC PLUS system, a fully traceable system, ascertaining responsible accounting practices.

Tracking renewable  raw materials from feedstock through packaging

A traceable path through a mass balance approach.

Thus, this approach introduces renewable raw materials into the current supply chain without changing �ղⱹ���® ’s material specifications or manufacturing processes, and can be transferred (sold) downstream provided the entire chain is ISCC PLUS certified. Sustainability Declarations, audits and documentation maintain transparency and control, providing accurate renewable attribution from feedstock origin up to the final packaging.

Impact

Olympus has taken a significant step toward addressing sustainability challenges in sterile healthcare packaging by incorporating �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution into its single-use device portfolio. �ղⱹ���® is the first permeable sterile packaging solution linked to certified renewable raw materials, delivering a meaningful reduction in carbon footprint while maintaining the performance and reliability required in healthcare. Designed as a drop-in solution, �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution provides immediate, seamless integration into the global supply chains of Olympus products already using �ղⱹ���® , without requiring changes to specifications or regulatory documentation.

In the short term, Olympus is already gaining benefits. The adoption of �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution was achieved rapidly because Olympus determined that no extensive revalidation data sets were required. 

Compared with the typical adoption time for a new sterile packaging material, time to market was significantly reduced, allowing Olympus to introduce a more sustainable solution much sooner. The fact that �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution is an ISCC PLUS certified mass balance solution, Olympus determined that the need for typical extensive physical material tests could be eliminated because the physical properties remain unchanged. Olympus is also realizing immediate environmental gains with the shift to �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution, which is expected to reduce the material’s carbon footprint by roughly one third, providing a significant contribution toward Olympus’s climate objectives.

In the long term, Olympus’s continued integration of �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution supports its broader sustainability strategy, particularly its commitment to achieving a “carbon neutral society and circular economy.”²⁰ By choosing �ղⱹ���® with certified renewable feedstocks via a mass balance approach, Olympus is advancing its long-term carbon neutral goals while maintaining the same high standards of packaging performance and patient safety that the industry requires.

Hospitals and healthcare systems are increasingly expecting more circular, resource-efficient solutions.

This shift signals both an immediate advantage in meeting current procurement expectations and a long-term competitive benefit as sustainability criteria continue to strengthen globally. This case study shows how Olympus leveraged �ղⱹ���® with Renewable Attribution to achieve meaningful carbon reductions quickly and efficiently, setting a benchmark for sustainable innovation in healthcare packaging.

References

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