Singapore, Jun 8, 2022 – Vivo Surgical, a pioneering medical device company based in Singapore, announces its official support for the Plastic Bank – a social enterprise dedicated to fighting plastic pollution in the ocean while improving the lives of collector communities.
Each year, eight million metric tons of plastic waste enters the ocean[1] – that is equivalent to a garbage truck of plastic every minute.
As part of the company’s commitment towards a regenerative and sustainable society, Vivo Surgical will support Plastic Bank to extract 1,000 kg of ocean-bound plastic – equivalent to about 10,000 units of their product, KLARO™ or 50,000 plastic bottles.
Plastic Bank empowers collectors from coastal communities who receive a premium for the materials they collect, which will help them economically and allow them to provide for family necessities, creating a path out of poverty. The plastic collected is reprocessed and reintroduced into the global manufacturing supply chain.
“Our actions today greatly impact the world and environment in the future.” stated Dr Kevin Koh, CEO of Vivo Surgical. “We take our sustainability impact very seriously and strive to do our part to contribute to the circular economy. However, as the risk of cross-contamination from recycled medical device materials is high, regulations do not allow end-users to recycle our products. As such, this initiative with Plastic Bank allows us to give back to the environment while at the same time support these less privileged communities.”
About Plastic Bank
Plastic Bank® empowers the regenerative society. We are helping the world stop ocean plastic while improving the lives of collector communities. Plastic Bank builds ethical recycling ecosystems in coastal communities and reprocesses the materials for reintroduction into the global manufacturing supply chain. Collectors receive a premium for the materials they collect which helps them provide basic family necessities such as groceries, cooking fuel, school tuition, and health insurance. Plastic Bank’s certified blockchain platform secures the entire transaction and provides real-time data visualization – allowing for transparency, traceability, and rapid scalability. The collected material is reborn as Social Plastic® which can be easily reintegrated into products and packaging as part of a closed-loop supply chain. Plastic Bank currently operates in Haiti, Brazil, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Egypt.
About Vivo Surgical
Vivo Surgical is a clinically-driven, patient-centric innovator and manufacturer in surgical technology and robotics. Headquartered in Singapore, its unique products target the medical needs of the world through innovative applications of science & technology. ISO 13485 certified with international accreditations awarded such as the US FDA, European CE mark and Singaporean HSA, the company's proprietary technologies encompass fields such as deep-cavity in vivo surgical LED lighting, flexible nasopharyngoscopy and minimally-invasive robotic surgery.
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1 Jambeck, J. R.; Geyer, R.; Wilcox, C.; Siegler, T. R.; Perryman, M.; Andrady, A.; Narayan, R.; Law, K. L. (2015). Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean. Science, 347(6223), 768–771. doi:10.1126/science.1260352
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