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Overcoming the barriers: Adoption of sustainable packaging alternatives

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Rich Quelch, global head of marketing, Origin looks at the barriers to adoption of sustainable packaging alternatives in pharma and how the industry is working to overcome them.

Key insights:

Consumers are quick to judge a brand’s sustainability credentials on its packaging. After all, it’s often the first interaction a person has with the product.

For companies to reach their sustainability targets and offer more eco-friendly solutions to consumers, producers and retailers have started to change their packaging to more recyclable, bio-based and biodegradable packaging.

But for pharmaceuticals, this hasn’t been an easy transition. Packaging remains a difficult balancing act between strict compliance to protect product efficacy and patient safety, and sustainability.

The pharmaceutical industry is one of the world’s biggest waste polluters and carbon emitters. So, what progress is being made towards a more sustainable packaging future in pharma and what can we expect in the future?

A careful balancing act

Pharmaceutical packaging can consist of various materials, including several types of plastic polymers, glass, paper, cardboard and metals.

Underpinning all packaging design is the number one goal – to secure the quality and function of the product and protect it from external factors like humidity, temperature, light, oxygen and biological contaminants.

Other important functions include providing product information like dosage requirements, ingredients and safety guidance. Packaging also must support counterfeit-prevention and child resistant, all the while being convenient to use by adults of all ages.

Over recent years, the spotlight on sustainability has cast itself on the pharmaceutical supply chain and packaging is one area where huge gains can be made. This is because large amounts of materials and energy are used to deliver products safely to consumers and fulfil many other important functions.

The industry has been working hard to reduce the environmental impact of its packaging, including through “light weighting”, reusable and recyclable designs and limiting the use of complex and mixed packaging materials. But challenges remain.

Pharma’s unique challenges

The pharmaceutical packaging sector is unique in that health and safety are the primary forces in decision making.

Traditional plastics are very effective in preventing the contamination of medicines, making them hard to give up. Dose control within delivery systems such as sprays, injectables and blister packs also often rely on non-biodegradable plastic or mixed materials that cannot be separated for recycling.

The case is similar with added packaging features that help the industry combat counterfeit medicines and boost child-resistance, too.

But with sustainability becoming one of the most urgent priorities of our time, a new approach is gaining momentum.

A recent study identified legislation, a lack of interaction between stakeholders and rigid practices as blocks for more circular product packaging design. But as other industries have proven, the challenges of making packaging sustainable are significant but they are not insurmountable.

With cross-industry collaboration, investment in research and development, and a switch in focus to the entire lifecycle of packaging, pharma can become more sustainable, while continuing to prioritise safety.

Waste prevention is the priority

Pharmaceutical packaging waste is generated and accumulated along the value chain. So, a wide-ranging sustainability strategy is key to maximising its effect, reducing wastage across the design, development, delivery, usage and post-consumer stages.

According to the waste hierarchy, the best option is to prevent waste from being generated in the outset, followed by reuse and recycle initiatives and disposal.

Adopting a Quality by Design (QbD) approach is helping manufacturers minimise waste, degradation and contamination from substandard or poorly designed packaging.

By designing a product’s primary and secondary packaging well from the outset, manufacturers can reduce materials usage and wastage, test new eco materials, ensure safety compliance and efficacy, and benefit from cheaper transportation costs.

3D visualisation and printing technologies are also supporting manufacturers to meet their waste prevention strategies and increase efficiency. These innovations mean new packaging sizes, shapes and functionalities can be tested before the costly development process which produces waste. This is useful for “light weighting” packaging designs to minimise use of materials and maximise transport efficiency.

After the design has been tested in 3D visual format, it is then created into a physical design by a 3D printer. This means technologists have an accurate impression on the design before going through the expensive tooling process – driving productivity and sustainability.

Printing product information directly onto the secondary packaging can also cut down on labelling materials and costs. So too can investing in value-added functionalities in primary packaging designs which eliminate the need for secondary packaging entirely, and QR codes to unlock patient information without the need for printed leaflets.

Utilising existing serialisation technology is another way to make pharmaceutical production more sustainable.

Serialisation is required for product tracking, anti-counterfeiting, and patient safety reasons, but the process also gives manufacturers enhanced knowledge of their supply chains. They know exactly where products are in the distribution chain and can use data insights to limit instances of over-production, reducing unnecessary packaging, energy use and more.

Reducing reliance on single-use materials

There is an ongoing and sharpening focus on reducing pharma’s reliance on packaging that rely on mixed materials that cannot be recycled together, and on single-use materials that end up in landfill.

To eliminate non-biodegradable and single-use plastics from the supply chain, more research is taking place around bio-based or “renewable” PET. One example is ethylene derived from sugarcane which has a negative carbon footprint, using CO2 and releasing oxygen when cultivated. 

Last year, Astellas Pharma began using sugarcane-extracted PE as 50 percent of its raw material for blister packaging – the first time a “green polymer” has been used for this format which will biodegrade in 10 years.

Pioneering technologies used in the design and development of drug packaging are also evolving, such as those which convert PET waste back into virgin grade material to be used repeatedly without quality degradation.

Aluminium is another material that is helping to boost the circular economy in pharma, with its ability to be recycled without compromising its inherent value. Many manufacturers are diverting their interest towards aluminium foils for primary packaging, encouraged by its cost-efficiencies, sustainability and barrier properties.

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