Recycle-Ready Sachets and Stickpacks: healthcare innovations for a more sustainable future

As the first global packaging company to pledge to develop all our packaging to be recyclable or reusable by 2025, we continue to innovate across the markets we serve to replace non-recyclable materials with recycle-ready alternatives. Even in the area of healthcare packaging, with its strict technical and performance requirements, we are making progress toward our goal. Following the breakthrough, recycle-ready AmSky thermoform blister solution announced in April, we are now proud to announce the ongoing development and trials of recycle-ready high-barrier sachets and stickpacks for pharmaceuticals. These products will help bring our pharmaceutical customers one step closer toward their own sustainability goals.

Sustainability in pharmaceutical packaging

The pharmaceutical industry, healthcare providers and patients are all increasingly aware of the need for more sustainable packaging. This means a growing demand for more sustainable solutions, while ensuring the quality and safety requirements that have always been fundamental when packaging pharmaceuticals.

Healthcare Sachet and Stickpack laminates today

Today, pharmaceutical Sachets and Stickpacks are based on mixed-materials which provide a highly efficient barrier against light, moisture and oxygen. The majority of this effective barrier comes from the aluminium layer. While effective, the current materials are not recyclable. Our latest innovations eliminate the need for this aluminium layer while continuing to ensure a high-barrier, creating a solution for pharmaceuticals that is recycle-ready and has a lower carbon footprint.

Amcor's recycle-ready Sachets and Stickpacks for pharmaceuticals

Amcor's recycle-ready Sachet and Stickpack solutions will offer options across the Polyolefin and paper recycling streams. The range will combine Polyolefin films or paper with a metalized barrier without compromising machinability. We are currently trialing recyle-ready metalized Polyolefin options that have sufficient barrier properties against moisture and oxygen for most pharmaceutical products.

The goal of this ongoing development is to help our customers comply with the EU Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, which calls for 100% of plastic packaging to designed as recyclable or reusable by 2030. In addition, more sustainable packaging can deliver a reduction on key environmental impact indicators such as carbon footprint.

Customers can already request trials for our new 2-ply and 3-ply sachet specifications. Streamlined design, efficient machineability, and thermal resistance are key to the functionality of these materials. Both specifications deliver significant reductions of environmental footprint and have been extensively tested with the machine manufacturer Universal Pack.

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.