In response to environmental and sustainability concerns, Gerresheimer has developed the EcoLine. According to the company, the line demonstrates that the full range of plastic packaging solutions supplied by Gerresheimer can be developed and produced sustainably.
To that end, the company has established criteria for the development and production of its plastic container series for solid and liquid medications, designed to yield sustainable - ‘tight and light’ - packaging solutions, thus contributing to greater environmental compatibility.
"You can't recycle a classic x-large blister pack. But more and more consumers are paying attention to environmentally friendly products and to the fact that they are packaged in an environmentally friendly way or at least in an environmentally compatible way,” said Niels Düring, Global Executive Vice President Primary Packaging Plastic.
The Gerresheimer EcoLine concept includes criteria relating to weight, volume, material and recyclability. It can be applied to all existing Gerresheimer product families such as Duma, Triveni and to the dropper bottles as well as to the PET bottles.
Regarding weight, the company looks at how heavy an individual packaging must be for optimum protection of the contents. A lower tare weight saves transport and energy costs and consequently reduces CO2 emissions.
Another criterion is volume, the company said. The container should be sized to hold its contents but have as little void space as possible. This also has a direct influence on the material consumption, transport and storage costs for a product.
Material selection has become increasingly important as consumer awareness grows with regard to environmentally friendly packaging. Where feasible, resource-saving, or recycled materials should be used, said Gerresheimer.
Finally, the recyclability of any packaging solution must be considered, beginning with the material selection. Gerresheimer’s EcoLine is both recyclable, and can incorporate recycled content.
“For example, PET bottles, which can be made from up to 100% recycled plastic,” the company said.
It also offers a bio-based option, called BioPack, which uses a plastic material derived from sugar cane.