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Tracy Taszarek Named New Executive Director of the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council

Tracy Taszarek Named New Executive Director of the Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council

January 27, 2025 /3BL/ - The Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Tracy Taszarek as its new Executive Director. Tracy succeeds Peylina Chu, who is retiring from Antea Group after a distinguished career.
Peylina has been an integral leader of HPRC since its early days in 2010. Under her leadership, the organization has grown from a group of seven members to more than 30, successfully bringing together stakeholders from across the healthcare plastics value chain. Peylina's unique ability to unite competitors and partners has driven significant progress toward a circular economy for healthcare plastics.
In addition to her leadership of HPRC, Peylina has had a distinguished career at Antea Group, a global environmental, health, safety, and sustainability consulting firm. With over 25 years of experience, she has made a lasting impact on the business community, advancing efforts in climate change, occupational health and safety, and resource management. She played a pivotal role in Antea Group's growth and success, culminating in her position as Senior Vice President.
'It has been an honor and a pleasure to work with and learn from so many HPRC members over the past 14 years. I am so proud of the work that has been completed to date, and I'm excited to see how this group continues to drive change in the industry,' shared Peylina. 'I look forward to the great achievements that are yet to come under Tracy's leadership!'
We are excited to welcome Tracy Taszarek to the role of Executive Director. Tracy brings over 10 years of experience managing Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) programs for diverse teams in office, manufacturing, and field-based environments. Her background in medical equipment manufacturing gives her valuable insight into the healthcare industry, which has been instrumental in her contributions to HPRC.
Tracy has been a trusted member of the HPRC team, leading projects, speaking at industry events, and facilitating council meetings. We are confident that Tracy's leadership will continue to advance HPRC's mission and expand the influence of our work within the healthcare plastics sector.
'I am very excited to step into the role of Executive Director for this incredible organization!' shared Tracy. 'I'm eager to continue building strong partnerships across the healthcare plastics recycling industry and look forward to working with HPRC members to continue to drive impactful improvements.'
HPRC is currently engaged in multiple initiatives aimed at enabling the recycling and circularity of healthcare plastics, including research into advanced recycling technologies to recycle mixed-stream healthcare plastics; a study of sorting technologies and potential integration with healthcare plastics waste streams; development of streamlined sustainability procurement criteria for plastic medical packaging and devices; and design of a regional recycling pilot program in the Houston market intended to serve as a blueprint for other regions.

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Gen X, millennials are about three times more likely than their parents to be diagnosed with appendix cancer, study finds

The pain was so sharp that Chris Williams took himself to the hospital. It was a Tuesday evening in September 2021 when Williams started to feel throbbing abdominal pain and nausea. By the next morning, it had gotten worse. 'I had to go to the ER,' said Williams, who lives in Brooklyn. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with appendicitis and had his appendix surgically removed. About a week later, he met with his medical team to get the staples removed and discuss next steps – and that's when he received shocking news. 'They found a tumor sitting on my appendix, and they biopsied that tumor and determined it was cancer,' said Williams, who was 48 at the time. 'It was actually a blessing,' he said. 'This was really just a godsend, in my eyes, and a blessing for me to detect the tumor – for the tumor to trigger my appendix to almost rupture for them to find it – because later on, they discovered it was stage III. 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