Environmental indicators for packaging materials

by Sophie Newland, PATH and Gisele Corrêa Miranda, Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz The environmental, social, and economic impact of packaging materials is a growing interest and concern among governments, industry, universities, and regulatory bodies around the world. Innovations in design and material development have evolved, introducing new challenges and unprecedented opportunities to increase the sustainability of packaging. As new regulations are proposed and discussed, project Optimize has completed a landscape paper to understand and better define how sustainability might be incorporated in vaccine products destined for low- and middle-income countries. Because the quality and conformity of packaging regulations is an issue that crosses national boundaries, the International Standards Organization is proposing new standards to cover source material reduction, packaging reuse, packaging recycling, energy recovery, composting, and biodegration. It is hoped that vaccine producers, perhaps through the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association and Developing Country Vaccine Manufacturer’s Network, will create voluntary recommendations for vaccines based on these new standards. The challenge for industry, of course, is balancing the desire to improve environmental indicators with the need to adhere to strict regulatory restrictions and quality standards inherent in the vaccine industry. Pharmaceutical companies are primarily concerned about the safety and quality of their product. A standard recommending that companies use recycled boards in cartons will have to be evaluated against the ability of those boards to withstand refrigeration. Protective packaging is also important to ensure that glass vials remain intact throughout the supply chain, protecting against potential breaches in sterility and loss of product during transportation. Another characteristic affecting environmental impact is the need for constant refrigeration to maintain a vaccine’s potency and sterility. The energy spent for cooling and temperature maintenance is substantial and also determines the quantity, quality, weight, and volume of materials used in delivery packaging. Over the next few months, members of the Vaccine Presentation and Packaging Advisory Group, a group of public sector and industry representatives that discusses vaccine characteristics and packaging requirements for developing countries, will be reviewing proposed standards for sustainable packaging and discussing how they might best apply to vaccines. Industry members appear enthusiastic about the idea of discussing and incorporating additional sustainability features into product design and packaging with the goal of defining rational, economically, environmentally, and socially acceptable solutions for packaging in the vaccine industry. To comment or reply to this article, click “reply.”