At the recent Pharmapack 2025 event in Paris, industry leaders gathered to discuss issues in pharmaceutical packaging. Among the notable presentations was a session by Duncan Flack, Chairman of CiPPPA, who addressed the complex landscape of sustainability in hard-to-recycle packaging formats.
Regulatory Pressures and Industry Challenges
Duncan’s presentation highlighted the increasing regulatory pressures facing the pharmaceutical industry. He noted several key regulations that are shaping the sustainability landscape:
- Carbon Border Adjustments Mechanism
- Single-use Plastics Directive
- Packaging & Packaging Waste Regulation
- Eco-design for Sustainable Products Regulation
- Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive
- Extended Producer Responsibility
Specific Challenges in Pharmaceutical Packaging
The presentation included particular challenges facing the industry, with a focus on blister packs including material composition, size and weight, contamination in recycling processes, regulatory constraints and collection challenges.
Duncan discussed several approaches to address these challenges:
- Reduction Strategies
– Selecting packaging materials to improve overall equipment effectiveness
– Selecting packaging materials to raw material usage and scrap production
– Enabling increased production line speeds through material selection
– Reducing pack sizes in primary, secondary, and tertiary packaging - Circular Economy Approaches
– Exploring take-back schemes for pharmaceutical packaging
– Engaging with regulators to develop sustainable solutions within the constraints of the industry
The presentation showed the need for continued innovation and collaboration across the industry. As regulations tighten and consumer awareness grows, the pharmaceutical sector faces increasing pressure to develop packaging solutions that balance product safety, usability, and environmental sustainability. While challenges remain, events like Pharmapack provide a platform for knowledge sharing and potential collaborative solutions. As the industry moves forward, it is important to monitor how these discussions translate into practical, implementable changes in pharmaceutical packaging practices.
Duncan shared his impression of the event: “Pharmapack presented a great opportunity for the pharmaceutical packaging community to meet in Paris. The event as ever, was well attended and there were plenty of other interesting presentations throughout the event from companies offering solutions which may help take companies a step closer to being more sustainable, but which perhaps fell short of offering a roadmap towards a circular solution for primary pharmaceutical packaging formats.”
Duncan highlighted some notable contributions from other presenters, including Jayne Paramor of Anthesis who gave a very comprehensive presentation on the complexities surrounding the healthcare industry and how it needs rethinking to maximise resource efficiency, and Nic Hunt of Nelipak who shared his insightful views into how supply chain stakeholders can improve sustainability whilst avoiding extinction.
“It was also interesting however hearing Julien Tremblin of Terracycle explain how their blister recycling scheme (originally designed to handle PVC/Alu based blisters) is being challenged by the arrival of an increasingly complex array of blister pack designs.”
CiPPPA serves as a platform for industry stakeholders to address similar challenges around pharmaceutical packaging and sustainability. By joining CiPPPA, companies gain access to a network of industry experts, researchers, and policymakers working collectively on sustainable packaging solutions. Members can contribute to and benefit from industry-wide initiatives aimed at developing innovative, environmentally responsible packaging solutions that meet the requirements of pharmaceutical products while advancing circular economy principles. Get in touch for more information.