When we talk about circularity in healthcare, the conversation often begins with the most complex materials: regulated medical waste, single-use devices or products that require specialized handling. But a significant opportunity is hiding in plain sight—behind pharmacy counters, inside distribution centers and throughout healthcare facilities.

These back-of-house environments generate packaging that is cleaner, with more consistent volumes and greater value than many patient-facing waste streams. Many of these materials are handled by trained staff, produced in predictable locations and made from plastic resins with established recycling markets. Yet much of this packaging is still discarded.

The barrier is not always the material itself. More often, it is the absence of a coordinated system capable of collecting enough material, efficiently enough, in aggregated locations to make its recovery economically and environmentally feasible.

A promising place to start: stock pill bottles

Consider the larger bottles used by pharmaceutical manufacturers and pharmacies to store and dispense medication. Known as packer or stock bottles, these containers remain within controlled pharmacy, hospital and fulfillment environments before they are emptied.

Closed Loop Partners’ recent report, Advancing Recycling of Prescription Pill Bottles in the U.S., developed with support from the Takeda Foundation, examined recovery pathways for both stock bottles and the smaller prescription bottles—the typical amber pill bottle—provided to patients.

The analysis points to a particularly compelling opportunity behind the pharmacy counter.

An estimated 8,000 to 17,000 tons of stock bottles and caps are discarded in the United States each year, with more than 90% emptied in pharmacy settings. These containers are typically made from high-density polyethylene and polypropylene—materials that are widely processed by plastics reclaimers and have established end markets.

Stock bottles also avoid some of the challenges associated with patient prescription pill bottles. They do not typically contain patient-specific information, are generated in controlled environments and can be separated by trained employees as part of routine operations.

On paper, the ingredients for circularity are already present: a relatively consistent material stream and existing market demand.

So why are so many of these bottles still landfilled or incinerated?

Valuable material, fragmented system

A single pharmacy may generate only a modest quantity of stock bottles, on average. That volume may be meaningful nationally, but it is rarely enough at one location to justify a dedicated collection route, storage system or recycling contract. This creates a familiar circularity paradox: there is too much valuable material to waste, but too little in any one place to recover economically.

The challenge is compounded across thousands of locations. Pharmacies may have different waste providers, limited back-of-house storage and inconsistent recycling access. Employee separation practices can vary by location or shift. Recyclers may receive too little information about expected volumes, material specifications or contamination levels to justify developing a dedicated solution.

Meanwhile, no single participant controls the entire pathway from bottle generation to collection, aggregation, processing and final use.

In other words, the opportunity exists—but it is fragmented across the system.

Coordination can turn scattered volumes into a viable supply stream

Unlocking these materials requires more than placing a recycling bin behind the counter. It requires coordinated infrastructure and market development across the value chain.

That means:

• Mapping where materials are generated and in what quantities

• Developing consistent separation and storage practices

• Establishing shared material specifications

• Aggregating volumes across companies and locations

• Aligning collection with existing distribution or reverse-logistics networks

• Connecting generators with qualified collectors, reclaimers and end markets

• Testing regional models and measuring their operational and economic performance

Centralized and micro-fulfillment centers may offer an especially promising pathway as more prescription filling moves into concentrated facilities. These locations can generate larger quantities of material at fewer collection points, improving transportation efficiency and reducing the complexity of aggregation.

At the same time, distributed pharmacy locations should not be overlooked. Regional coordination among pharmacy networks, healthcare systems, logistics providers and recyclers could transform many small streams into a reliable source of recycled feedstock.

This is where a collaborative model becomes essential. By combining volumes, participants can create the critical mass needed to attract recovery partners and improve economic outcomes. They can also share the cost and risk of testing solutions, establish common practices and provide a clearer market signal than any one organization could generate alone.

Pill bottles are only the beginning

Stock pill bottles provide a practical starting point because the material is relatively consistent and the recovery barriers are largely operational and logistical—not fundamentally technical.

But the same approach could open pathways for other back-of-house healthcare packaging, including cold-chain expanded polystyrene containers, medical-device packaging, laboratory plastics, films and flexible packaging, and other rigid plastics generated within healthcare facilities.

These materials should not be treated as one undifferentiated category. Each stream has distinct handling conditions, contamination risks, logistics and end-market requirements. The path forward is to identify the most promising materials, understand how they move through real operations and build recovery systems around those realities.

At Closed Loop Partners, this is how we approach complex material challenges: map the system, convene the stakeholders who rarely sit at the same table, test solutions in market and connect recovered materials with viable end markets. By beginning with a tangible opportunity such as stock pill bottles—and designing a recovery network that can expand to additional materials—we can move beyond isolated pilots toward a more connected, resilient and circular healthcare system.