Recycled Packaging

January 7, 2012 | Filed under: Insurance | Posted by: Yvonne Brixey

Regular clamshell packaging is replaced more often with unit dose packaging & blister packaging. Unit dose packaging & blister packaging are just more environmentally friendly than other packaging including clamshell packaging. Unit dose packaging & blister packaging decreases the use of pvc plastic and reduces the amount of spoiled and wasted, unused product. When t comes to reducing the amount of wasted and thrown away pharmaceutical product, this also has a major environment improvement.

Without Unit Dose Packaging & Blister Packaging medication is often used and then the extra must be thrown away because it doesn’t keep or it spoils or isn’t needed. Some disposal of harmful pharmaceutical materials or hazardous medication can be harmful to the environment.

Unit Dose Packaging & Blister Packaging can also save medical patients money because they are only paying for the dose of medication they need which is contained in the Unit dose packaging & blister packaging rather than having to pay for a larger amount of medication that is spoiled and thrown away upon opening the packaging and only using a partial amount of the medication inside the packaging.

Unit dose packaging & blister packaging saves time for pharmaceutical staff and medical staff because the unit dose packaging & blister packaging already have the medication measured out.

Let’s go back to the environmental benefits to using unit dose packaging & blister packaging. Any plastic packaging normally uses PVC which is polyvinyl-chloride which you may know more commonly as vinyl. PVC is strong and resilient as well as being versatile and inexpensive, PVC doesn’t biodegrade. The same benefits that make unit dose packaging & blister packaging so good at preserving product and making the packaging resilient to extreme temperatures, oil and water resistant , etc. All of these really great preserving characteristics of pvc plastic used for unit dose packaging & blister packaging make the same pvc product very difficult to decompose after thrown away. PVC plastic will stay around for years without any decomposition which fills up land-fills and creates a greater amount of waste.

When pvc, used in unit dose packaging & blister packaging is formed it is made by using chemicals that could damage cells and be harmful to the human body. PVC is difficult to recycle. The solution to using less pvc in unit dose packaging & blister packaging is to use recycled plastic for the same packaging. You may be concerned about the sterile characteristics of recycled pvc plastic, especially when talking about pharmaceutical product inside the unit dose packaging & blister packaging, but recycled plastic goes through a process that makes the plastic sterile and re-usable.

An example of another type of plastic that is used in unit dose packaging & blister packaging is the same kind of plastic used for pop bottles and food jars. This plastic packaging is called Recycled PET or RPET. This plastic substance is otherwise called polyethylene-terephthalate. PET has more recyclable properties and can be used and recycled and reused for making unit dose packaging & blister packaging.

Some unit dose packaging & blister packaging use minimal amounts of RPET which means that less plastic is being used. The other part of the sealed product uses cold form foil or corrugated paper-board. Corrugated paper-board is the easiest material to recycle on earth. This means that when you use unit dose packaging & blister packaging made from RPET and corrugated paper-board you are doing a favor to our planet! How Plastic Packaging Effects the Environment