Principles of Sustainability in Pharmaceutical Packaging

Sustainability can also be applied to a higher degree during processing. Wide drug manufacturing is becoming less popular for new pharmaceuticals as generic producers worldwide continue to take over the production of off-patent medicines.

FREMONT, CA: Sustainability is the ability to support something forever, which in this sense refers to the number of materials used in the process and the ability to regenerate those materials in an environmentally sustainable manner.

The World Health Organization has established three directives to help minimize and remove waste:

• Minimizing packaging that is unnecessary for the safety of medications.

• Making as much packaging as possible recyclable.

• Making hazardous packaging incinerator clean.

For instance, some plastics are more toxic than others when incinerated. Some plastics are slightly more toxic when performing incomplete combustion, demonstrating the value of infrastructure construction for disposal facilities. As there are many limits on using recycled materials in the manufacturing of pharmaceutical packages, producers are urged to consider their products' recyclability at the end of their lifetime, makeup where regulation does not allow for the best sustainability. In addition, the need to sustainably supply all packaging products must be considered, as if the high demand for even regeneratively sourced materials is not viable.

Many pharmaceutical firms are achieving reduced packaging by reducing their weight. Modern plastics can be made thinner while retaining strength, and structural design developments, thanks to computational engineering approaches, create new designs that use much less material while maintaining the packaging's function and purpose. Competition between over-the-counter drug makers has led to an improvement in the variety, size, and visual appeal of packaging, promoting the use of excessive and colored packaging. However, packaging must keep details on the ingredients, dosing, and safety measures.

Sustainability can also be applied to a higher degree during processing. Wide drug manufacturing is becoming less popular for new pharmaceuticals as generic producers worldwide continue to take over the production of off-patent medicines. Modern personalized medicine also forces narrower production cycles that are ultimately more costly. The downtime between processing batches is idle time and the energy expended on setting up for the next run.

Companies are being increasingly standardized and structured in this respect. For example, the amount of heat added to blister packs precisely calibrated to save electricity, strict control of water usage, and dynamic optimization of ventilation systems. Tracking across the supply chain will also boost sustainability by maximizing the development rate and delivery of goods, ensuring that they are not over-produced, reducing energy-consuming storage periods, and not being shipped more than is essential.