Balancing safety and sustainability: UK initiative launched to boost pharma pack recycling

09 May 2024 --- The health industry is facing multiple challenges around recycling primary pharmaceutical packaging (PPP), according to the UK’s Circularity in Primary Pharmaceutical Packaging Accelerator (CiPPPA) initiative.

While regulations are stringent to ensure the safety, efficacy and regulatory compliance of each active medicinal product, they have been unable to consider long-term environmental effects, stresses CiPPPA. 

In addition, PPP sits outside mainstream consumer recycling processes because of the problematic materials involved, which introduces wider environmental, financial and regulatory challenges.

The CiPPPA initiative was launched in the UK to develop and implement strategies for the end-of-use recycling of medicinal devices and pharmaceutical packaging. Members of the initiative aim to achieve waste reduction and environmental stewardship, such as developing effective end-of-life product management of pharmaceutical packaging and diverting waste from landfill sites.

Duncan Flack, global sustainability lead at Honeywell and chairman of CiPPPA.We speak with Duncan Flack, global sustainability lead at health care packager Honeywell and chairman of CiPPPA and Dr. Maryam Babba, The Dragonfly Initiative’s (TDi) multi-stakeholder manager and lead project manager for CiPPPA, to discuss the UK’s circularity challenges for primary pharmaceutical packaging. 

Could you briefly introduce the CiPPPA initiative?
Flack and Babba: CiPPPA is a not-for-profit initiative with a mission of enabling members of the public and companies to recycle the packaging waste associated with blister packs, metered dose inhalers and auto-injectors, thereby contributing to the elimination of waste, and the aim of reducing GHG emissions. The initiative has received broad support from across the pharmaceutical and over-the-counter (OTC) industries. CiPPPA provides an environment in which companies who would otherwise be competing can work together to generate solutions that work for the benefit of the industry, people and planet.

What can you tell us about the availability of recycled primary pharmaceutical packaging in the UK?
Flack and Babba: Currently, there is almost no commercially available primary pharmaceutical packaging in the UK. The regulations within the UK, EU and US all stipulate that no “waste” material is allowed to be used in primary pharmaceutical packaging, and all of the regulations are based on mechanical recycling methods. 

The prevalence of primary pharmaceutical packaging waste associated with the three product categories CiPPPA is focusing on is significant. Nearly every household in the UK will likely have some examples of the respective packaging formats in their bathroom or medicine cabinets, and currently, nearly all of them go to landfills or incineration. Our objective is to divert that packaging into a dedicated stream of recyclable materials and then recycle it, enhancing its end of life.

What are the main challenges for establishing circularity in the UK’s health packaging industry?
Flack and Babba: Typically, the three product types (blister packs, metered dose inhalers and auto-injectors) suffer from similar challenges. They’re too small and lightweight to be picked up in a materials recovery facility (MRF) or plastics recovery facility (PRF). They all suffer from medicinal “contamination” — one gaseous, one liquid and one solid. They cannot be collected at curbside because of the associated risks they present. Dr. Maryam Babba, TDi’s multi-stakeholder manager and lead project manager for CiPPPA.

They are typically made from multi-laminate structures, which are difficult to recycle. They often combine polymers and polyolefins, increasing the risk of cross-contamination within the waste streams. They are inherently single-use by design. The primary packaging materials (those in contact with the drug) must be made from virgin materials. No PCR (or specifically waste material) is allowed to be used in the manufacture of primary pharmaceutical packaging.

How is the initiative aiming to overcome these challenges?
Flack and Babba: Eventually, we aim to operate a closed collection process, allowing patients to drop off their empty packaging from anywhere they collect their prescriptions — care homes, hospitals, doctors’ surgeries, supermarkets, chemists and pharmacies. After that it will be transported to recycling plants, then sorted, recycled and repurposed for secondary use in various formats. 

We shall initially work with mechanical recycling processes but are working with start-up organizations to secure the potential of chemical recycling of mixed polymer waste streams and to be able to generate reusable feedstocks to produce new plastics. In the mid to long term, we hope to convince the regulators to allow the reuse of recycled feedstocks and to enshrine the principles of circularity into the design and manufacture of these products.

Having amassed a broad level of support across the industry, we are now broadening our appeal to the entire value chain and including device manufacturers, regulators and industry bodies in the initiative to ensure that we attain a critical mass throughout the value chain. It is by achieving this critical mass that we believe we will ultimately be able to influence the societal and behavioral change required to make the program a success.

By Natalie Schwertheim