FAQ
Every question surgery centers ask — answered straight.
In the order everyone asks them: is it legal, what's it worth, what qualifies, and how it works. Skepticism is healthy — bring it.
Is this legal and safe?
The most common confusion in this space: recycling is not reusing. Official guidance about single-use devices is written about clinical reuse — which is not what buyback is.
Can single-use medical devices be recycled?
Yes. The FDA's single-use rules prohibit reusing a device on another patient without FDA-regulated reprocessing — they don't prohibit recycling it for material and research value. Buyback recycling is a one-way trip: devices leave your facility, are recovered for materials or non-clinical use, and never return to patient care.
Is device buyback the same as reprocessing?
No. Reprocessing means cleaning and sterilizing a device so it can be used on another patient — it's a separate, FDA-regulated industry. Buyback is recycling for value: we pay you for the device and it exits clinical use permanently. ASC Sustain does not reprocess devices and never returns collected devices to clinical use.
Is it legal for a surgery center to sell used devices?
Yes. Facilities routinely sell recovered single-use devices for their material content (like platinum in catheter electrodes) and for research, development, and training use. This has been standard practice in EP and cath labs for years — the buyback services in this market publish price lists openly.
Is it safe and compliant to ship used devices to a third party?
Yes, when it's done through a program built for it. We provide collection containers and prepaid shipping designed for used devices, compliant with carrier requirements. Devices carry no patient information, and nothing we collect ever returns to clinical use.
What will you pay us?
Do surgery centers actually get paid for recycling devices?
Yes. Published market rates for common EP devices run $5–$65 each — ICE catheters at the top of that range. Depending on product mix and volume, a typical center builds an income stream worth $1–2K a month from devices it was throwing away.
How much are used EP catheters worth?
At published market rates: ICE catheters around $60–$65, steerable diagnostic catheters $14–$18, sheaths and transseptal introducers $10–$15, fixed-curve diagnostic catheters about $8, and cables about $5. Ablation catheters are valued at their platinum content. Your exact quote is itemized per device.
Which devices contain platinum or other precious metals?
Catheter electrodes and tips — especially ablation catheters — contain platinum-group metals. That's why even damaged or cut devices can retain real value: the metal content is recoverable regardless of device condition.
How much does medical waste disposal cost a surgery center?
Published vendor pricing runs $150–$600+ per month for surgery-center service, or roughly $0.30–$0.85 per pound for general regulated medical waste — a median of about $1,635 per ton. That's the bill buyback shrinks: every recovered device is paid revenue instead of billable waste weight.
What devices qualify?
What devices does ASC Sustain buy back?
EP devices (ICE catheters, steerable and fixed diagnostic catheters, ablation catheters, sheaths, introducers, cables), imaging catheters (IVUS, diagnostic ultrasound), peripheral vascular devices (Turbo Elite laser atherectomy, Shockwave IVL), advanced energy devices, trocars and endoscopic instruments, and DVT compression sleeves. Request the buyback list for the full, priced catalog.
What if a device is damaged or already cut?
Send it anyway. Damaged and cut devices are typically valued at their platinum or materials content, and your itemized report will show exactly what each one earned. You never need to cut, sort, or prep devices for us — whole and as-is is the preferred state.
What about unused or expired supplies?
Our buyback program is for used devices. Unopened surplus and expired stock trade in a separate resale market — if that's what you're holding, ask us and we'll point you toward the right channel rather than leave it in a storeroom.
Do eligible devices go in the sharps container or regular trash?
Neither. Eligible devices go in the ASC Sustain collection container we ship you — that's the whole workflow. Everything that isn't on the buyback list continues through your existing waste protocols exactly as before.
How does it work day-to-day?
Who pays for shipping and containers?
We do. Collection containers and prepaid return labels ship to your facility free. There is no setup fee, no per-kit charge, and no minimum volume to start.
When do we get paid?
Once your shipment is received, you get payment plus an itemized report of every device we paid for. No invoicing, no chasing — the check and the statement come to you.
How much staff time does this take?
Seconds per case. Staff drop eligible devices in the collection container after the procedure — no sorting, no cutting, no sterilizing, no logging. When the container is full, seal it and hand it to the carrier.
What's the catch?
There isn't one, and here's the honest math: recovered devices have downstream value to materials refiners and research buyers. We share that value with the facility that generates the devices. Your statement is itemized so you can see exactly what you were paid for — transparency is the whole model.
What does it cost?
What does the ASC Sustain program cost?
Nothing. We pay you. The kits, shipping, and processing are free. Today you're paying a waste hauler $150–$600+ a month to take these same devices away — buyback flips part of that line item into revenue while your regulated waste stream gets lighter.
See what your devices are worth.
Send us your device list and get a priced quote back. Free to request, no commitment.