Bormioli Pharma, an international leader in the production of glass and plastic containers for pharmaceutical use, has presented a set of data highlighting that pharma-grade, sustainable plastic packaging is able to fulfill the strictest requirements of the industry in terms of quality and safety.
The research, run by the specialised laboratory Lab Analysis and reported by Tecnopolo Mario Veronesi Institute, part of the Democenter-Sipe Foundation, represents a breakthrough for the sustainable packaging adoption in the pharma industry, as it provides data-proof evidence about the safety of recycled PET, achieving excellence results comparable to virgin PET ones. Indeed, sustainable plastic packaging solutions have registered values – in terms of extractables presence - 150 times below the risk index in the worst case scenario.
The analysis has taken in consideration multiple rPET bottle formats, that have been tested to scout the presence of extractables in highly demanding testing conditions, exceeding USP and European Pharmacopoeia requirements, using tools such as mass spectrometry and different solvents, as well as recurring to the most severe extraction conditions.
“The in-depth analysis we have run undoubtedly show the high levels of safety achieved by pharma-grade sustainable plastic packaging solutions” commented Roberto Valenti, Head of Materials Development Bormioli Pharma. “This ground-breaking result might be the opening of an increasingly massive adoption of such solutions by the pharma industry, letting pharma manufacturers to fully embrace the ecological transition, after the first encouraging signals that we have seen in the last couple of years”.
Bormioli Pharma has also run a LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) analysis on the impact on the environment of sustainable and conventional plastic packaging solutions, showing that the former allows a 37,2% reduction compared to the latter, thanks to a minor impact in terms of raw materials production and processing.
The company has recently announced the launch of EcoPositive, a brand new range gathering all the sustainable packaging solutions manufactured by the company, including recycled glass and plastics, bio-based, biodegradable or compostable plastic solutions, and advanced polymer products, such as PET containers partially manufactured from the recovery of CO2 emissions.
Furthermore, Bormioli Pharma has reached the use of sustainable raw materials on 32% of its production in 2021, compared to 16% in 2020, a result that well positions the company to achieve the goal of using 50% sustainable raw materials in production by 2025.
