Sustainability

In this episode of the updated Over The Counter podcast, HBW Insight speaks to sustainable packaging expert Tony Perrotta about the complexities of replacing plastic pill packs in medicines packaging. Perrotta is a partner at PA Consulting, which set up the Blister Pack Collective alongside consumer health players Haleon, Bayer and Sanofi. They are working with PulPac, which has invented a dry molded fiber alternative to plastic, which the Collective hopes to commercialize within 12-24 months. We discuss whether regulators will accept such alternatives, given the safety and stability requirements for medicines, and the challenges of recycling, given the multitude of different frameworks and processes across the world. Perrotta also reveals that one of the partners in PA Consulting’s Bottle Collective, which hopes to replace plastic bottles in the food, personal care and consumer health industries, will soon launch its first market trial.

Cataloging materials by category across US states or even internationally, chasing down information from supply partners, and other aspects of extended producer responsibility (EPR) program compliance can be a lot easier in collaboration with a software solutions vendor or other third party, says Michael Washburn, principal at Washburn Consulting.

London-based Unilever is resetting targets including virgin plastic reductions and increases in packaging that is recyclable, reusable or compostable. Based on a report last year from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation on industry progress against goals to reduce plastic waste, Unilever will not be alone in having to recalibrate.

Thousands of companies operating within the EU will soon be required to identify across their whole supply chain any adverse impact on the environment and human rights. Failure to do so could mean fines of up to 5% of worldwide net sales.

Companies considered producers of single-use packaging in Oregon, Colorado and California must register with Circular Action Alliance, the leading (and currently only) producer responsibility organization, by 1 July 2024 under new state recycling laws.

There’s no simple answer to the question of how to make medicines packaging sustainable, says international recycling consultancy and Veolia Group subsidiary Circpack. “Manufacturers need to assess what works best for them, and recyclers will do the same,” Circpack analyst and circular packaging expert Filipe Vieira de Castro tells HBW Insight in this exclusive Q&A. “The best thing we can all do is put effort into finding common ground between systems, which comes down to better understanding the complexities between them.”

The EU Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee proposes a “compromise amendment” to the new pharmaceutical directive that would include only antimicrobials for which there is an “identified risk of antimicrobial resistance” to the prescription requirement. 

The EU Parliament's Environment, Public Health and Food Safety committee takes a compromise position with regards to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive. Medicines and medical devices should be exempt, but only until 2035, at which point the European Commission should check whether the development of materials and the recycling process have progressed, and may adjust this exemption accordingly.

Haleon has rolled out 1.2bn recycle-ready tubes across the world, an achievement that the firm said is a “milestone” on its “journey towards realizing a circular economy for its product packaging.” Haleon is also introducing a more sustainable manufacturing process for several variants of its Sensodyne toothpaste brand, starting in the UK.

The US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works discussed state extended producer responsibility programs with stakeholders including S.C. Johnson & Son at a 6 March hearing to consider what the “proper role” of the federal government should be to address the plastic waste crisis. Two recycling bills passed the Senate a week later that could help set the stage.

Hawaii looks to “ease the burden” of finding reef-safe sunscreens by distributing it to sunseekers at beaches. The proposed legislation comes roughly three years after the Aloha State began prohibiting sale of oxybenzone- or octinoxate-containing sunscreen products due to concerns about potential harm to coral.

The US Environmental Protection Agency “is not currently planning a full scope ERA that would include the fate and distribution of UV filters in the environment because the data are currently not available to do so in a defensible manner,” an agency spokesperson said.

The United Nations treaty on plastics pollution, considered ‘the most important climate deal since Paris,’ stands to have a direct impact on the cosmetics industry, potentially by targeting intentionally added nano-plastics in addition to microplastics in cosmetics, says attorney Melissa Kopolow, who spoke at the Personal Care Products Council’s annual meeting in Miami on 27 February.

The Association of the European Self-Care Industry celebrates its 60^th birthday this year. In this episode, we catch up with AESGP director general, Jurate Švarcaite, to find out how the association will mark the occasion, including at this year’s Annual Meeting in Brussels in June. AESGP Annual Meetings are an excellent way to find out what the key issues and trends are impacting the European consumer health industry, and this one will be no different. We talk through some of the key themes of this year’s conference. Sustainability continues to be a mega-trend, closely followed by digitalization and artificial intelligence. With its wide-ranging footprint across OTC medicines, food supplements and self-care medical devices sectors, the consumer health industry is facing an avalanche of regulations, and the AESGP continues to be an effective advocate for its stakeholders, alongside adjacent industry partners. 

The EU Green Deal brings with it numerous directives, strategies and frameworks which consumer health companies operating in the region must work out how to navigate. To assist companies facing this regulatory storm, HBW Insight has produced an infographic which brings together in one place the main EU legislation supporting the Green Deal.

The EU's revised Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive is one step closer to implementation thanks to provisional agreement between the European Parliament and Council. In line with the “polluter pays” principle, producers of pharmaceuticals and cosmetics should contribute at least 80% towards the costs of removing micropollutants from wastewater through quaternary treatment, the legislative bodies agree.