Country: Japan

Category: Medical and Pharmaceutical

ZACROS Corporation has developed a horizontal recycling* technology for the commercial liquid container "CUBITAINER."
The "CUBITAINER" manufactured by ZACROS is used as a storage container for reagents manufactured by Sysmex Corporation. These used "CUBITAINER" are collected by Sysmex, then crushed and washed. The flake-shaped recycled material obtained through these processes is used as raw material by ZACROS Corporation to mold into "CUBITAINER SUR." This horizontally recycled product has been adopted for the cleaning solution "HISCL™ Line Washing Solution Concentrated"** for Sysmex's Automated Immunoassay Systems HISCL™-5000/HISCL™-800, and sales began in January 2025. By securing high-quality recycled materials at Sysmex, ZACROS has successfully achieved horizontal recycling of medical containers, which previously has been considered difficult within the healthcare industry.

■ Features of Horizontal Recycling "CUBITAINER SUR"
・"CUBITAINER" is a highly recyclable product series with the caps, spout, and main body all composed of a single polyethylene material.
・The inner layer that comes into contact with the contents uses virgin resin (resin manufactured from only new materials), while the outer layer uses recycled materials to ensure safety. It also complies with the standard tests of the revised Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Notification No. 380 of 2020***.
・The "CUBITAINER SUR" adopted by Sysmex contains 30% recycled materials.
・Compared to "CUBITAINER" manufactured solely from fossil-derived virgin resin, it reduces CO₂ emissions by approximately 15 tons annually associated with the incineration of used containers (approximately 5 tons annually) (based on Sysmex calculations****).
・There is minimal coloring or discoloration of the resin due to recycling, and its appearance is comparable to that of "CUBITAINER" manufactured solely from virgin resin.
・Due to the high-quality recycled materials, sufficient strength is maintained even after remolding. The physical properties are equivalent to those of "CUBITAINER" manufactured solely from fossil-derived virgin resin.

* Horizontal recycling: A manufacturing process in which used products are recycled and reused as raw materials to manufacture the same type of product. In this case, used “CUBITAINER” was used as raw material and molded into “CUBITAINER” again. In order to manage the product as a product made from recycled materials, it is commercialized under the name “CUBITAINER SUR.”
** HISCL™ is a trademark of Sysmex Corporation.
*** Standard tests of the revised Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare Notification No. 380 of 2020: This refers to Food Sanitation Law in Japan. It is a standard for utensils and container packaging used for food, additives, etc., and pass/fail determinations are mainly based on material tests and migration tests for heavy metals and other substances. This standard is widely applied to container packaging for non-food items as well, and plays an important role in ensuring the safety of container packaging in Japan.
**** Based on Sysmex calculations: Based on information from the manufacturer, incinerating 160 g of similar plastic containers produces 500 g of CO₂. The calculation was made by multiplying the amount of used containers (approximately 5 tons per year) generated in the Sysmex plant.