Kimberly-Clark Professional, a global leader in contamination control solutions for cleanrooms and laboratories, has expanded The RightCycle Programme to the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The RightCycle Programme is the first large-scale recycling effort for non-hazardous lab, cleanroom and industrial personal protective equipment (PPE) waste. Originating in the U.S. with a few scientific manufacturing customers, the program is now available in 11 countries with a wide range of customers that includes universities and research institutions, pharmaceutical and biotech companies as well as manufacturing facilities and other businesses. In addition to the U.S., the Netherlands and Switzerland, the program is available in Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Germany, France, Belgium, Austria and Spain. Since 2011, it has helped hundreds of customers divert more than 2000 metric tons of PPE waste.

“Expanding the geographic reach of The RightCycle Programme will enable more of our customers to divert PPE waste from landfills to give these products a second life,” says Ashley Davis, global sustainability manager, Kimberly-Clark Professional. “This is part of our ongoing commitment to help our customers reduce their environmental footprint and to deliver on our purpose of Better Care for a Better World.”

The RightCycle Programme collects previously hard-to-recycle PPE such as garments, masks and gloves. These items are then recycled by regional partners that create new plastic pellets, which are used to produce consumer products and other durable goods.

In 2021, the company expanded The RightCycle Programme in Europe to other categories to include the recycling of plastic dispensers and hand towels. In 2022, it expanded the program in the U.S. and Canada to accept flex-film plastic packaging from Kimtech and KleenGuard products. This will provide Kimberly-Clark Professional with an even greater opportunity to reduce its environmental footprint in collaboration with its customers.

The RightCycle Programme contributes to Kimberly-Clark’s global 2030 ambition, which is to improve the lives of 1 billion people in underserved communities around the globe with the smallest environmental footprint. Kimberly-Clark understands that a strong and enduring focus on safeguarding natural systems is just as essential to helping people live a better life. To that end, the company is focused on the areas where it can make the biggest difference – climate, forests, water and plastics.

Kimberly-Clark aspires to be at the forefront of the transition to a circular, reuse economy by reducing waste, promoting waste-handling system improvements, and innovating new ways of providing people with the products that they need to live their best lives.