The link between safe & sustainable pharmaceutical packaging

With the pharmaceutical market growing rapidly, companies are expected to be more transparent with business practices, especially with the impact they have on the environment. As this expectation becomes more apparent to pharmaceutical businesses, the drive for sustainable packaging innovation increases.

Utilising sustainable packaging can prove to be a challenge for everyday packaging requirements, but even more so in the pharma industry. While retailers and consumers sway towards a more eco conscious mindset, they still expect/ need pharmaceutical companies to adhere to safety regulations – and this is where Swiftpak come in. It’s our job to ensure our pharmaceutical packaging products and solutions are both safe and sustainable.

Pharmaceutical packaging challenges

There are many points that need to be considered when designing sustainable pharmaceutical packaging and these include:

• Preserving the medicinal value of products – The primary objective of pharmaceutical packaging is to preserve the effects of medicine. In most cases, protection from heat and moisture is needed. While some circumstances require temperature-controlled storage.
• Preventing counterfeit products – Pharmaceutical packaging should have security measures in place to show medicine is genuine. Counterfeit drugs are a huge problem and can be fatal for consumers.
• Providing relevant information on the packaging – Pharmaceutical packaging should display all relevant information for consumers and nurses. This includes expiry date, serial or batch number, dosage information and related warnings.
• The handling and transportation of the packaging – Most medicines come in rectangular boxes for ease of stacking and handling. Not only does this save space, but stickability lowers shipping costs.
• Sticking to government policies – Pharmaceutical packaging must adhere to government policies to ensure safety of consumers.

Now, throw in ‘sustainability’ with the above points and this creates a complex design and manufacturing process for pharmaceutical packaging.

Implementing sustainable practices in Pharmaceutical Packaging

At Swiftpak, we understand that pharmaceutical products are highly sensitive and need to be protected to the highest standard. When designing sustainable pharmaceutical packaging, we achieve exceptional protection & security for your products, while using eco-friendly materials. These include recycled paper, paper board and corn starch. We improve on these sustainable practices by reducing the amount of packaging we use. On top of this, we understand the packaging lifecycle of our products. This means we can plan and implement sustainable sourcing across our entire process.

We don’t just focus on 100% biodegradable products; recyclable plastics can be sustainable too. It’s not uncommon for us to design sustainable pharmaceutical packaging using plastic. But why’s this? As long as consumers are responsible with recycling, plastic can be recycled over and over again and is a very versatile material.

Conclusion

In short, the packaging of medicines is just as important as the medicine itself. Preservation of drugs as well as the preservation of our planet are both as important as each other.

At Swiftpak we are constantly creating and developing new and innovative sustainable solutions. With our ISO-accredited processes and personal attention to detail, we help our clients reduce packaging waste and make smarter choices to ensure your products are effectively protected and cost-effective.

Want to know more about how we provide safe and sustainable packaging for the pharmaceutical industry? Contact us today to speak to one of our packaging experts.