INSIDE: DEAR ABBY, HOROSCOPE, PUZZLES & FEATURES
THE BULLETIN • SUNDAY, MAY 2, 2021
bendbulletin.com/business
C1
B USINESS
REPROCESSOR
BOOM
Medline ReNewal expands
its Redmond location
One of the
surgical
instrument
that Medline
Industries, Inc.
remakes are
trocars.
BY SUZANNE ROIG • The Bulletin
B
usiness is so good for a Redmond manufacturer
that repurposes medical devices that it is doubling
its size while it keeps thousands of pounds of waste
from going to the landfill and saving money for
health care companies.
Despite the pandemic and the cancellation of elective surger-
ies over the past year as a way for hospitals to keep their beds
available for COVID-19 patients, business has been strong for
the privately held company, Medline ReNewal. Construction is
underway now to double its manufacturing footprint.
Last year, the company recycle d about 5.2 million devices
from a list of more than 4,300 different items, cleans them,
sorts them and sterilizes them to be repackaged for reuse. It’s
a labor-intensive business that is on the upswing, said Frank
Czajka, president of Medline ReNewal division. The Associa-
tion of Medical Device Reprocessors said that it’s a $500 million
industry with the potential to grow. In 2018, more than 8,000
hospitals and surgical centers in the United States, Canada and
Europe partnered with commercial reprocessors.
Beverly Wilson
assembles a
tissue sealing
dissector
at Medline
Industries, Inc.
in Redmond.
Dean Guernsey/
The Bulletin
See Medline / C2
MEDLINE REWAL » BY THE NUMBERS
5.2M
4,300
$500M
8,000
37M
$545M
Medical devices recycled,
sterilized and sorted.
Different types of items
cleaned and repackaged.
Value of industry for
reprocessing medical devices.
Hospitals and surgical centers
that use this equipment.
Equivalent in water bottles
of waste diverted.
Estimated amount saved by
the medical industry.