Going Green: The latest sustainability trends in medical packaging

Seán Egan, director of Global Marketing & VoC Development, Nelipak Healthcare Packaging looks at the latest sustainability trends in the medical packaging.

There is an estimated one million tons of clean, non-infectious healthcare plastic generated in healthcare facilities each year, accordingly to The Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC). Finding a way to minimise the waste stream that ends up in landfills -- and the resulting impact it can have on the environment -- is challenging but important. One area where there is an opportunity to reduce waste through increased design innovation and process and material optimisation is in healthcare packaging.

More and more OEMs are expecting their partners to participate in environmentally responsible practices, and rightfully so. Healthcare organisations are increasingly pushing back on OEMs to look at both device and packaging sustainability during development. One example is GPOs, Group Purchasing Organisations for health care programs in the U.S., who increasingly strive to drive purchasing behaviour through responsible sourcing decisions. Medical OEMs bidding for contracts need to show they can meet attributes such as device and packaging recyclability, removal of Polystyrene from packaging and potential use of recycled content in primary packaging.

Medical device packaging manufacturers are rising to the challenge by increasing the emphasis they place on the sustainability of their products and operations. Packaging manufacturers are looking to reduce packaging size, eliminate unnecessary components, streamline shipments whenever possible, and some are even working with the end-user hospitals to increase education around proper recycling and reuse.

This article illustrates the strategies that packaging manufacturers are using to drive effective sustainability practices, which will continue to grow in importance for the foreseeable future.

Green design

Involving a packaging partner at the earliest stages of product development can allow for the creation of innovative packaging that is both fit-for-purpose and as sustainable as possible. Designers are coming up with new ways to decrease material and energy use required to manufacture packaging. Packaging manufacturers are decreasing packaging volume by favouring sealed trays instead of pouches. In addition, they are aiming to reduce the number of components required in the overall package. One way to do this is to laser-etch instructions directly on to the tray, potentially eliminating the need for an IFU and increasing compliance.

The introduction of tools such as design and package integrity simulation allow packaging providers to make a well-informed prediction at the concept stage about how design choices – such as downgauging materials or reducing the overall footprint – will impact the performance of the package, allowing higher confidence and greater efficiency before moving into the prototyping and manufacturing stages.

Environmentally friendly materials & processes

Over the last two to three years there has been an increase in new materials to market with greener credentials looking to address some of the challenges of downstream recovery and recycling. While medical OEMs and pharmaceutical companies are open to change, they still must address regulatory issues around the introduction of any new materials. Validation costs and resources often make switching difficult and increasingly OEMs are turning to their packaging partner to help understand the benefits through production trials and product integrity testing.

Packaging audits aid medical device OEMs in evaluating their existing product packaging and can minimise costs and offer more environmentally responsible alternatives in the overall product cycle.

While plastic isn’t the most sustainable material, it’s the most efficient one to use when a sterile barrier is needed. When it comes to choosing the right plastic, packaging providers are performing their due diligence to determine the options offering the lowest environmental impact. They test, looking for the ones that have the potential to increase the use of recycled content.

Efficient and cost-saving transportation

To lower energy and cost, companies can perfect their transportation strategies via simulation tools. Many take advantage of software that helps to optimise planning, maximise load, and minimise costs. Using it allows manufacturers to prevent obstacles by learning the outcomes and solutions ahead of time. Waste minimisation occurs not only through material reduction but also in transport costs, CO2 emissions, and optimising costs when bulk sterilising product by either gamma or EtO. A widespread way companies focus on sustainability is via bulk freight shipments that reduce packaging, impact on the environment, and transport/inventory expenses.

Moreover, medical device manufacturers are working with CMOs (contract manufacturing organisations) that provide end-to-end services. Choosing a packaging partner that can perform everything from design and development, to prototyping, to tool building to manufacturing under one roof means components don’t need to be transported between various phases of the process, reducing fuel and greenhouse gases produced during shipping between multiple contractors. In addition to being more environmentally friendly, choosing a single contractor who can do everything streamlines the process and may ultimately help save the OEM time and money. Additionally, selecting a packaging partner that has multiple global locations can benefit the OEM – and the environment – by offering them a regional manufacturing facility to work with, reducing the necessary transport distance.

Education & recycling programs

Education around recovery and reuse is growing. Medical device packaging manufacturers and medical device OEMs are working with hospitable groups and recyclers to recover more plastic, diverting it back into the circular economy. Once companies settle on a choice of the most sustainable material, they inform the end-user of how to reuse, and later recycle the packaging accordingly.

Hospital recycling programs can range from comprehensive to almost non-existent. HPRC has partnered with healthcare institutions such as Stanford Healthcare to perform detailed assessments of healthcare plastics use through pilot programs and establish an appropriate recycling process for clinical settings.

Through its membership in the HPRC, Nelipak Healthcare Packaging is working with industry partners to create awareness of the need to divert more plastic packaging from landfills. Together, through this initiative they are examining ways of helping hospital staff more readily segregate waste material through education programs and clearer marking of thermoformed rigid packaging to help remove uncertainty on the material composition of the plastic used in the trays.

Research and evaluations are being performed around new materials and packaging innovations which can offer sustainability benefits. For example, Nelipak has been involved in trials around HDPE materials gathered for use in downstream applications. Sterile plastic barriers are often a low-melt HDPE that can be used in extruded products. Post-processing, the material is commonly used in drainage pipe and lawn edging.

Conclusion

Working with healthcare-focused packaging designers and engineers provides medical device companies with the ability to proactively innovate products even at the earliest stages of development. As a result, OEMs can have more efficient and environmentally responsible device packaging that reduces material waste during development and production; lowers packaging ownership costs; provides for optimum volume and efficient logistics in the supply chain; and allows for products that can be used and recycled more effectively in hospital environments.