Penta Medical Recycling was founded by university students in 2016 to bring affordable prosthetic care to low-and middle-income countries while repurposing what would otherwise be considered medical waste in the United States.

This idea came out of the realization that 85-95% of the world’s 100 million amputees lack access to proper prosthetic care and equipment while hundreds of thousands of functional but slightly outdated prostheses are being replaced and discarded in the United States every year.

At Penta, we found that we could resolve these two problems simultaneously by collecting and repurposing used prosthetic and orthotic equipment in the United States. In doing so, we would be able to clear the clutter out of private homes, relieve clinics of the responsibility of collecting unusable devices, and also bring the ability to walk, work, and thrive back to amputees all over the world.

Penta Medical Recycling formally incorporated as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2018, and has since turned into a global operation working with government health organizations, private and public healthcare institutions, and other nonprofit groups based in the US and overseas. Penta’s operations have expanded to 16 different countries across 6 regions of the world and continues to explore opportunities for expansion. 

Mission