The Pharma industry makes steps towards utilizing sustainable practices in packaging for years.

 

Due to the complex nature of the industry, the steps are small but definitive towards sustainable packaging. It`s important to mention that the environmental impact of pharma packaging is small compared with other daily emissions. However, the pharmaceuticals implement different types of green policies and environmentally sound technologies to reduce their environmental impact. Because SoftGroup encourages and supports the implementation of sustainable practices, we complied this whitepaper, in which you could find out the 3 key steps for pharmaceuticals on the way to “sustainable packaging”.

 

Ecological design of packaging

The main idea is behind the reduction of plastic in packaging design and regarding this the carbon footprint to be reduced across the whole packaging supply chain. For this purpose, instead of traditional materials, the pharmaceuticals could use sustainable materials as PE (polyethylene) or PET (polyethylene terephthalate) made from sugarcane, Post-consumer regrind (PCR), Biodegradable products or PLA (polylactic acid).

Environmentally friendly manufacturing

The impact of the implementation of sustainable design, it`s neither without sustainable processes. Applying “green” policies could be in direction of waste reduction, minimizing energy use and/ or generating renewable energy (implementing photovoltaic systems) and use as much as possible renewables, which have a positive effect on the general efficiency.  Thanks to all of these changes, pharma manufacturing is pressing ahead to carbon neutrality.

Planning

To make such type of changes in your manufacturing requires a good plan in accordance with the company`s specifics. Some pharma companies have structured sustainable strategies which aim to incorporate sustainability values in corporate strategies.

As a bonus, the plan gives you the opportunity to track and trace your company`s progress in time, showing you the results of your efforts and motivating you to keep forward!

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Source:

https://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/downloadfunc=downloadFile&recordOId=3044827&fileOId=3044828
https://www.merckgroup.com/en/news/sustainability-strategy-12-11-2020.html