Circularity in Primary Pharmaceutical Packaging: Uniting for Change

Plastic waste, carbon emissions, resource scarcity are all systemic. No single company is going to be able to solve them alone. By collaborating, we can accelerate the development of scalable, business focussed solutions that de-risk and benefit the entire industry, as well as the planet.

For instance, if several pharmaceutical companies agreed on a standardized design for recyclable blister packs, it would make recycling easier and clearer for consumers. This cooperation would also communicate a strong message to suppliers and regulators, helping to encourage quicker adoption and support for policies.

HCP: Why is collaboration so key?

Flack: Collaboration is key because sustainability in pharmaceutical packaging faces a series of complex, multi-dimensional challenges that no single organization can solve in isolation. The challenges impact across so many different aspects of the value chain; everything from material science and supply chain logistics to design, regulatory compliance, and patient safety.

When organizations collaborate within a pre-competitive environment, they pool expertise, share risks, and accelerate innovation.

Some companies might bring cutting-edge materials next generation to the table, while others can contribute insights on stability and shelf life, while others still ensure safety and compliance. Only by working together can they co-create solutions that are both sustainable and scalable and which have an impact across an entire industry.

Moreover, collaboration helps set industry-wide standards. If we all work toward a form of harmonized packaging or shared recyclability criteria for certain packaging formats, we can reduce fragmentation and make it easier for the entire industrial ecosystem—from manufacturers through to recyclers — to operate more efficiently and to help mitigate business risk.

HCP: What is The Circularity in Primary Pharmaceutical Packaging Accelerator (CiPPPA)?

Flack: CiPPPA is a multi-stakeholder action collaborative working to deliver scalable take-back programs and enable the recycling of metered dose inhalers, injectables, and blister packs.

It serves as a pre-competitive platform for collaboration among global pharmaceutical and healthcare companies. The initiative aims to identify best practices from comprehensive gap analyses of existing and past take-back and recycling programs. These insights will help develop scalable, simple, and effective solutions for consumers to recycle empty inhalers, blisters, and injectables.

HCP: Why is the focus on blister pack, injector pen, and inhaler packaging materials specifically?

Flack: The original co-founding companies (Honeywell, Reckitt, Eli Lilly, and Chiesi) examined the challenges that each type of packaging faced and noticed that the three packaging formats—blisters, inhalers, and injectables—shared the following similar challenges:

• Logistical – There was no way for the devices to be collected from the public as kerbside collection was not considered possible.
• Regulatory – All three devices were required to be made from virgin materials.  No “waste” or “recycled materials” were allowed to be used in primary pharmaceutical packaging by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), EU Pharmacopeia, or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
• Physical – the size and weight of the respective devices ensured that most of the devices, even if they were added to recycling streams / bins would still end up in landfill or incineration because they were too small or too lightweight to make it through the various material or plastics recovery facilities.
• Design – Many of the products were quite rightly originally designed to optimize patient safety and regulatory adherence but were not designed with recycling, let alone re-use in mind. It is often suggested that the design of a product plays a significant role in its sustainability. Achieving industry alignment on preferred materials not only facilitates the recycling process but also enhances the economic viability associated with recycling these devices.
• Single-use format – All the devices we had in mind all shared a common theme in so far as they were inherently single use by design. Making sure that products are designed with their end of life in mind means focusing on things like how recyclable they are, how waste can be reused, and reducing the number of different materials used.

HCP: Did CiPPPA face any challenges as it was forming?

Flack: One of the biggest challenges we encountered was getting a dozen or more global pharmaceutical companies to agree on codes of conduct, governance surrounding the initiative, legal and financial obligations, therein and so on. 

When we introduced the CiPPPA initiative, I was optimistic. I expected everything to be finalized within a few months after getting letters of intent from companies. However, negotiating with the legal and financial teams of numerous global pharmaceutical firms is a lengthy process. Despite this, the group's enthusiasm and collective commitment have been strong, driving us forward with a clear vision.   

HCP: Can you give us a sneak peek of a case study that you plan to share at PRS later this month?

Flack: A case study we’ll share at PRS is Colgate Palmolive's approach to recycling and collaboration. I believe it deserves recognition and credit, which is why I often mention it.

It showed tremendous foresight on behalf of Colgate Palmolive and was also an incredibly bold and brave stance to take, and one which I think helped lay some of the foundations for pre-competitive collaboration. 

It was also singularly impressive in that it helped the healthcare industry address one of the key challenges that any aspect of recycling faces, which is surrounding the societal and behavioral change that is required to persuade a sufficient percentage of the population to recycle a particular product. 

Encouraging a significant portion of the population to recycle materials that they have previously discarded requires effective communication. Educating the population is important, but the simplicity of the recycling process is also crucial for enabling change. If the process is overly complicated, it will not become a habit; however, if it is simple and straightforward, it reduces complexity and is more likely to be adopted by everyone.

Duncan Flack is the Global Sustainability Lead, HoneywellDuncan FlackYou can hear more from Duncan Flack, Global Sustainability Lead, Honeywell at the Packaging Recycling Summit, held June 25-27 at the Ritz-Carlton Dallas.