Huhtamaki and Syntegon combine on “industry first” paper-based blister packs for pharma

29 Jul 2021 --- Huhtamaki is releasing a paper-based blister pack for pharmaceutical tablets and capsules in what it describes as an “industry first.” Branded Push Tab, the packs are developed in collaboration with Syntegon.

Made from renewable FSC paper, each tablet contains 75 percent paper material combined with a water barrier coating. The solution is designed to replace traditional Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and aluminum blisters. 

Speaking with PackagingInsights, Huhtamaki’s sales manager Fabio Daidone says the central challenge in producing paper-based blister packs is creating a suitable water-resistant barrier. 

“Making the paper sealable and bringing a water vapor barrier into it was the main difficulty, but this was reached with Huhtamaki’s barrier coating.” 

The coating has been successfully trialed through a water vapor transmission rate test, says the company. 

The German Packaging Institute recently recognized Push Tab Paper with the 2021 German Packaging Award for sustainability. 

Hitting the healthcare market 
Daidone says Huhtamaki was driven by the lucrative potential of the pharmaceutical industry and its potential for environmentally-friendly innovation. 

“We are proud to introduce a new, more sustainable packaging solution for the tablet in the healthcare sector that has high growth potential.” European sales of flexible pharmaceutical packs were valued at US$1.3B in 2020.

“European sales of flexible packaging in the pharmaceuticals category had an estimated value of €1.1 billion (US$1.3 billion) in 2020, of which approximately 80 percent were in blister packaging.”

“We are happy to help our customers respond to opportunities with Push Tab paper, designed for circularity, which presents the first sustainable alternative for this packaging type.” 

Syntegon, a machine and processing specialist, developed the machine to produce blisters from Huhtamaki’s Push Tab paper materials. 

While no pharmaceutical customers have been secured for the Push Tab, Daidone says a lot of requests are already coming in, and the company expects the product to be on the market soon. 

Advancing to mono-material
Whether a mono-material solution will be possible in the future depends on future evolution and developments in the raw material markets, as well as public recycling streams, continues Dainone. 

“When the plastic content could be removed completely from the paper and recycled as well, then a mono-paper solution would not be crucial for recycling. In addition to this, Huhtamaki is also working in thin layer barrier technologies, which could lead to increased paper content,” he says. Each pack contains at least 75% FSC paper.

Changing blisters 
Also in this space, Amcor released a mono-material blister pack made with polyethylene earlier this year. The supplier estimates the AmSky packs will result in a 70 percent reduction in carbon footprint. This is estimated by comparing a standard PVC blister and aluminum lidding versus a new AmSky PE blister and PE lidding film.

Meanwhile, US-based TerraCycle partnered with pharmaceutical companies to launch a blister pack recycling program in what it claims is a UK first. The “Little Packs Big Impact” initiative is designed to make the preformed plastic packaging used to carry solid drugs more conveniently recyclable at the consumer level.

Also, US-based Keystone Folding Box recently reported a surge in demand for its line of child-resistant, paperboard-based blister packs from pharmaceutical companies in India.

The sales spike for its Key-Pak portfolio comes amid two parallel events: new environmental sustainability legislation in India and increased demand for child-resistant pharma packaging in the US – to whom India supplies some 40 percent of packaged over-the-counter and prescription drugs.

By Louis Gore-Langton