PPE Recycling for Healthcare Facilities in Canada: Your Questions Answered

PPE Recycling is becoming more important as hospitals and other healthcare facilities around Canada take steps to lower their carbon footprint and reduce the impact of single-use materials.

PPE use increased significantly during and after COVID and landfill and incineration volumes remain high. It makes sense, PPE is an essential, beneficial part of protecting healthcare staff and patients and its single-use nature is an inherent part of its safety features. That means your healthcare facility has probably looked and considered what safe and compliant options exist for reducing PPE waste.

Across the globe, PPE recycling programs are emerging as a safe and practical option and today Daniels Health is proud to offer innovative PPE recycling for healthcare facilities across Canada. As this is still an emerging service not widely used or available in Canada, we understand you probably have many questions about how this process looks in the real world. When you consider the millions of kilograms of PPE that can be diverted from Canada’s landfills and environment, there’s good reason to investigate this new step in sustainability.

TOPICS WE WILL COVER:

Is PPE a significant source of waste in healthcare environments?

Did you know that Canadian healthcare ranks third in the list of countries worldwide with the highest use of single-use plastics per capita? A significant portion of this waste comes from Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and in 2020 Health Canada estimated that 63,000,000 kilograms of PPE waste would end up in Canadian landfills every year. It’s such a large amount that this yearly PPE waste could stretch to the moon and back over six times. Truly astounding volumes of waste.

PPE is necessary and at its core, requires the ability for easy single-use disposability. However, when masks, gowns and other PPE get thrown away, they aren’t disappearing. Tackling the challenge of what happens next is where Daniels comes in with a new solution for Canada. For many healthcare facilities across Canada, PPE is the last piece of the puzzle in an otherwise strong waste strategy. Now, you have the ability to close this loop.

What’s accepted for PPE recycling and what’s not?

For PPE recycling to work it needs to seamlessly fit into the high-paced, high-stress environment of healthcare facilities. Daniels understands this. Our teams have focused on finding practical solutions made specifically for healthcare workers. We’ve made the requirements for PPE recycling simple as well. The following are acceptable items to place in our special PPE recycling bins:

Disposable masks and respirators

To ensure the PPE items routed to recycling aren’t contaminated, the following items should never be placed in PPE recycling bins:

How the Daniels PPE Recycling Process Works

To recycle your healthcare facility’s PPE items, Daniels has made the process simple and easy for healthcare staff. We’re proud to offer this “first of its kind” patented recycling technology which provides start-to-end lifecycles from collection to recycling.

Step One

You’ll receive metal recycling bins to place in high-traffic areas throughout your hospital or clinic. You’ll also be equipped with a receptacle pallet: this is a large container that your facility will use to store and ship the used PPE for processing.

Step Two

Staff can quickly place worn masks, respirators, gloves, gowns and other PPE items in the recycling bins.

Step Three

When full, these recycling bins can be easily transferred into the Recycling Bulk Pallet container that is stored on-site.

Step Four

When the Bulk Pallet container is full, a pickup can be easily arranged with Daniels. Our team will then take it from there.

What happens to PPE waste once it is taken from our facility?

Daniels has a legacy of sustainability and we are continuously looking for new ways to help healthcare facilities stay safe, compliant and sustainable. To that end, we’re proud to share the details of this state of the art recycling program.

After picking up your discarded PPE items, the Daniels team transports them to specialized recycling facilities. Here each pallet is inspected and logged to undergo a detailed sorting,

sanitization and shredding process. The contents are sorted into different types of recycled pellets.

For instance, pure surgical masks are separated from yellow gowns. For medical masks and respirators, after sanitizing, the pieces are shredded to prepare them for being melted down. From there they are formed into polypropylene pellets and are ready to be used for industrial purposes in applications such as construction and post-consumer goods.

These post-consumer recycled pellets are comparable to newly-made plastics. It really is a marvel of modern technology that these old PPE pieces will find new life in the manufacturing of new products in construction and textiles.

Does PPE Recycling Add More Work for Healthcare Staff?

Our goal is to always be mindful of the environment where healthcare professionals work. It’s our job to make disposal simple and convenient for everyone involved in the process. To make things easier, the Daniels PPE Recycling program includes:

Is PPE recycling compliant with Canadian healthcare regulations?

Most PPE collected through this recycling program is presumed to be contaminated with common pathogens, such as respiratory viruses. For this reason, accepted PPE is safely processed through a recycling facilities that converts the used material into clean plastic pellets. PPE that is heavily soiled with blood, bodily fluids, or other materials classified as Biomedical Waste is not suitable for recycling and must continue to be managed through existing biomedical waste streams.

In healthcare settings, PPE recycling is designed for items used in general care environments, not high-risk surgical or trauma settings where heavy fluid exposure can be expected. With clear internal policies and proper segregation, your facility can ensure PPE is directed to the correct disposal or recycling pathway. This approach allows your facility to safely divert appropriate PPE from landfill or incineration, without compromising infection control or regulatory compliance.

Does PPE recycling really have a positive impact on the environment?

It might seem like just one mask a nurse wears on a single day or a singular surgical gown, but these pieces of PPE quickly add up. The environmental impact of PPE recycling is actually quite impressive and profound.

Environmental Impact

Landfilled PPE can take 400-plus years to break down. During that process, it releases methane (a greenhouse gas 25-times more potent than CO₂) and microplastics into the environment..

Carbon Footprint

Producing new plastic emits 2–3-times more CO₂ than manufacturing using recycled plastic resin. For every tonne of plastic recycled, we can save up to 1.5 tonnes of CO₂ emissions.

Waste Diversion

Hospitals generate large volumes of single-use PPE. Every 1 tonne of PPE diverted preserves  around 3.3 cubic metres of landfill space.

Resource Conservation

Recycling PPE reduces the need for virgin petrochemicals, saving up to 70% of energy usage.

For every pallet of PPE recycled, approximately 225-450 kg of CO₂e is avoided and 0.85 cubic metres of landfill space is saved. When you take these numbers and apply them to typical healthcare environments, the numbers are impressive. If 1,200 kg of PPE are recycled each month, a hospital can cut roughly 1,800-3,600 kg of CO₂e and avoid using 6.8 cubic metres of landfill space. That’s 21.6-43.2 tonnes of CO₂e and 81.5 cubic metres of landfill annually!

How does PPE recycling contribute to our healthcare sustainability goals?

PPE generates waste every single day in healthcare settings. From routine use in clinical environments to large volumes of expired materials remaining from pandemic-era stockpiling, PPE represents a consistent and highly visible waste stream. How that waste is managed plays a meaningful role in a facility’s environmental footprint and long-term sustainability strategy.

PPE recycling programs give healthcare facilities a practical way to divert appropriate materials away from landfill and incineration, supporting broader environmental and ESG commitments without compromising infection prevention or safety standards. When implemented correctly, these programs align with federal and provincial oversight requirements and are designed to meet expectations around regulatory compliance, worker safety and environmental protection.

Beyond environmental considerations, PPE recycling can deliver operational and reputational benefits. Working with Daniels Health means you have the support of a leader in healthcare waste management along with the ability to bundle services to receive a comprehensive approach to waste collection, transportation and disposal.

Most importantly, recycling programs allow facilities to take measurable, auditable steps toward waste reduction, rather than relying on estimates or aspirational targets. For healthcare leaders, this creates an opportunity to demonstrate responsible environmental stewardship in an area where waste generation is unavoidable and closely scrutinized. PPE recycling helps close the loop on a high-volume waste stream and reduces exposure to ESG and audit risk, while helping achieve provincial IC&I diversion targets and enabling clearer sustainability reporting. While PPE waste cannot be eliminated from healthcare, the environmental and compliance risks associated with it can be significantly reduced through thoughtful, well-managed recycling programs.

Trust Daniels Health for PPE Recycling and Healthcare Waste Solutions

PPE waste is an unavoidable part of Canada’s healthcare environment, but how it’s managed is changing. Daniels Health’s PPE recycling is just one part of our ongoing efforts to provide safe and sustainable solutions hospitals and clinics rely on.

If your facility is looking for a compliant, forward-thinking solution to the ongoing challenge of healthcare waste, PPE recycling is a logical next step. It’s practical, compliant, and is an easy way to improve your facility’s sustainability efforts.

Daniels Health helps Canadian healthcare providers seamlessly add PPE recycling on its own or as part of a unified waste program with an eye to the future and a foundation in safety. Reach out today to discover how PPE recycling can fit into your facility’s every day operations and sustainability goals.