Italy-based Bormioli Pharma has announced what it calls the 'first sustainable plastic packaging solutions for the pharmaceutical industry'. The company says this represents a breakthrough in a traditionally conservative and highly regulated industry.
Bormioli Pharma says its new bottle made of 100 per cent pharma-grade rPET features exactly the same performances of its virgin counterpart (PET), allowing for the creation of a highly-customised solution according to its customers' needs.
The product has also been rated suitable for food contact, featuring 'an excellent transparency, low levels of contamination, as well as physical and mechanical properties comparable to virgin PET'.
The company has also developed cups and spoons in food-grade PLA, which it says are fully degradable within 60 days in industrial compost facilities.
Ambitious sustainability goals
Furthermore, Bormioli Pharma has also announced its goal to achieve, by 2023, pharma-grade certification for a wide range of solutions which are currently used in the nutraceutical and cosmetics industry. These will include green polyethylene containers, made with 100 per cent bio-based plastic, and BioPET bottles, containing up to 30 per cent of material coming from renewable sources.
“Sustainability is a hot topic on the public agenda, but it is still not considered a requirement by the pharma industry,” commented Fabio Silvestri, head of Product Strategy and Planning Bormioli Pharma.
“We are pioneers in this matter and we aim to promote sustainability throughout the pharma value chain, partnering with companies to develop sustainable programs as well as customised and compliant solutions with an open innovation approach. This means involving clients, as well as end users, startups, research centres and universities in our R&D programs, creating a porous environment that is able to generate new value for all the stakeholders.”
