With green manufacturing and chemistry efforts underway, its important to remember the long-term impacts of your packaging on the environment. Due to the many regulations within the pharmaceutical industry regarding the safety of packaging, it is challenging for companies to be innovative in their design and makeup. Packages containing medicine must be tamper resistant and most products must be thrown away after a single use. Reusing or refilling is oftentimes not an option, where in other industries, it is an easy solution to single-use packaging.
But there are other avenues that you can pursue, especially when it comes to innovating new packaging materials. Polyolefin laminate packaging is one example that has been developed. It is 70% recyclable packaging and includes a range of unit dose packaging for solid pharmaceutical products. Although many may assume cost would be a barrier, when using these high-tech materials, it is projected that adopting this packaging can lower the packaging-associated costs faced by a pharmaceutical company by up to 60%, as it requires significantly less raw materials than conventional blister packaging.
Bioplastic is also likely to gain traction in the market as it is derived from renewable plant-based sources and is biodegradable, unlike the plastics and polymers derived from fossil fuels. In December 2019, Sanner GmbH, a Germany-based packaging manufacturer, introduced Bio Base effervescent tablet packaging derived from corn and sugarcane. Innovative sustainable packaging solutions such as these are expected to boost the growth of the market.
Beyond recyclable packaging, reducing the add-ons that go with pharmaceuticals can make a positive impact on waste. For example, digitizing paper pamphlets can both reduce paper waste and meet consumers where they currently look for information: on the web. Taking a page from CPGs may be helpful here as connected packaging has become the norm. Either through digital watermarks on their pack or QR codes, they link to product education, directions, or ingredients, to lessen the overall physical packaging components. This provides a viable option for a more sustainable pharmaceutical brand.
But with innovation comes questions for consideration, especially since the pharmaceutical industry is so unique from other industries. How will the older generation react to connected pack, and will they know how to use the technology? How would product information be made accessible to the visually impaired who read Braille? There are many audiences heavily involved in pharma that could be greatly affected by changes such as these. And you can’t just market to consumers but to healthcare providers as well. How can we get doctors on board with less paperwork and more digital information? Implementing innovative recyclable packaging is feasible, but companies must not forget about their key audiences, and all parties involved.
Read Bayer’s Case Study
