From Rigid packaging to Flexible Packaging

Spain

Primary packaging

It is able for all kind of pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products that nowadays ara packed on a rigid packaging, because by the switch we can even increase the barrier properties, as well as the correct preservation one it's opened. Nowadays the companies are starting to develop strategies to reduce the impact of their actions. That’s why this solution can fit really well in the market because it is quite easy to reduce a huge percentage of the impact of the packaging. There are starting to be many laws that require the companies to reduce the use of plastic, and with that migration the companies can get a really good improvement.

The main goal when we try to reduce the impact of the packaging is to ensure the correct preservation of the product. If by looking for a lower impact solution, we don’t properly preserve the product, that drives to more waste, and so to a bigger impact. The first challenge was to substitute rigid packaging for a flexible one. By switching it we can reduce substantially the total weight of the packaging. Another point we should improve was the recyclability. The rigid packaging was composed of HDPE, LDPE, PP and Paper. When this product reaches the end of life can’t be recycled due to each material might be recycled in a different way. To ensure the recyclability we proceed with a mono material, able in each flexible stream (PE, PP or PO). Once we got all completed, we had to face the challenge of the barrier. In that case we proceed with our Mono materials, high barriers without aluminum. To be able to preserve the product we should ensure that once the product is opened can be reclosed. In that case, the rigid has its own lid that can be reclosed. On our solution we introduce a ZIP that allows us to open and reclose as many times as the customer wants. The result was a doypack, that can contain the same quantity as the rigid packaging, with even better barrier properties, recyclable and lighter. To demonstrate the improvement we want to provide data, and for that we did a study with a certified institution to be able to compare the global impact for both packaging. The study had been done following the LCA for the Carbon Footprint (ISO 14040 and ISO 14044) on a Cradle to grave case. The unit of the study was always to compare the same quantity packaging: 750ml. By switching from rigid to flexible we reduce 85% the weight of the packaging. The rigid packaging is composed of HDPE (44,5gr) + LDPE (20gr) + the label composed of PP (1,197gr) + Paper (1,66gr). The total weight is 67,36gr. The composition of the flexible packaging can be under any stream (PP, PE and PO) and the weight it’s 9,63gr. The flexible packaging can be recycled at all , meanwhile the rigid one has its own exceptions. The barrier properties of the flexible can have barriers to the oxygen and to the water vapor <0,1 with the polypropylene and lower than 1 in Polyethylene. The final result shows that the flexible packaging produces 34,69g CO2 eq while the rigid packaging produces 232,3g/CO2 eq. That means a reduction of 85,58% of the CO2 produced.