Some people consider sustainability and the pharmaceutical industry to be a contradiction in terms. The industry often struggles with a negative image. Wrongly so: At second glance, it becomes apparent that the pharmaceutical sector has been dealing with the issues of environmental protection, corporate governance and social commitment for much longer than many other industries.

It is therefore not surprising if the pharmaceutical industry is leading the way with its sustainability efforts in packaging and labels. There are some challenges to be solved here, but the topic is becoming more and more topical.

No company in the industry will be able to avoid sustainable labels for pharmaceuticals in the future. Less sustainable resources are gradually becoming too expensive to be used en masse on a one-off basis in packaging.

In this article you will learn more about sustainability and pharmaceutical labels. We bring you up to date with the latest developments.

What special criteria must labels for the pharmaceutical industry fulfill?

 

In the pharmaceutical industry, legally compliant and correct labeling has a key function. In order to exclude confusion when taking medicines, the legislator has provided for precise labeling of medicines. Among other things, the following requirements are placed on the label:

• Labels must be clearly legible.
• Readability must be given for as long as possible.
• It must be possible to provide information in Braille.
• The label half-year must prove resistant to moisture, chemicals, alcohol and typical mechanical deterioration.
• The labels must adhere as well as possible.

Pharmaceutical labels serve to protect against counterfeiting. This can be achieved with materials that are as far as possible not removable in one piece. Likewise, holograms on labels for cardboard packaging play an important role when it comes to counterfeit protection.

Pharmaceutical labels must meet the highest standards of durability, legibility, anti-counterfeiting and resistance.

The development of sustainable labels for pharmaceutical products subject to approval is also made more difficult because the packaging, including the label, is subject to a conformity test in the approval procedure. The entire packaging is part of the approval. Changes must therefore be tested again for conformity and lead to a supplementary approval step.

Last but not least, pharmaceuticals must be fully traceable (end-to-end verification). Here, too, pharmaceutical labels are decisive, as they depict certain codes, serial numbers, batch numbers, and expiration dates.

Anyone wishing to move towards sustainability in labels in the pharmaceutical industry must ensure that sustainable labels can fulfill all the functions and requirements mentioned. There are certain hurdles to overcome here for sustainable labels in the pharmaceutical industry.
First and foremost, promising sustainable developments must be tested for their area of application as a first step.
In particular, this involves resistance to external influences.

Regulatory authorities, for example, are not expected to deviate from their high requirements for labels in the pharmaceutical industry because they are sustainable. Patient safety is always their top priority.

 
Developers of sustainable labels for the pharmaceutical industry have to deal with certain prejudices at the beginning. The industry has long been accustomed to the plastic films that have proven themselves in daily use for labeling pharmaceuticals. New label types may have a harder time gaining acceptance in the beginning.

In addition, some bottlers and production companies have to change their processes so that the sustainable labels of the pharmaceutical industry are compatible with the means of production. The topic of sustainability may not yet be held in the same esteem by all companies. This will gradually change as sustainable labels become more widespread in the pharmaceutical industry.

Current status of sustainable labels in the pharmaceutical industry

There are first promising approaches to create sustainable labels for pharmaceutical products. Some manufacturers have been developing appealing solutions for some time. Among other things, they are relying on:

• recycled and recyclable film materials
• Materials from renewable raw materials
• Paper label solutions with elimination of laminating films
• environmentally friendly adhesives.

In order to establish more sustainability in labels for the pharmaceutical industry, producers and the industry as a whole have to deal with various challenges. This is not just a matter of being able to fulfill the usual functions of pharmaceutical labels.

Labels are applied to specific product materials in the pharmaceutical industry. Each prototype of a sustainable label must end up harmonizing with the respective material of the ratio. This could be glass, polypropylene, PE/PET or cardboard, for example. Compatibility with the respective materials must necessarily also be given for sustainable labels.

Some producers optimize sustainability first in the labeling of over-the-counter medicines. In the past, they liked to work here with label types made of a non-pharmaceutical material. The decision to use such labels was often made for cost reasons.

However, since the use of this low-quality label material is fraught with risk, in most cases today the decision is made to use pharmaceutically compliant label material. With the move towards sustainable labels, many manufacturers are attempting to create uniform solutions in the two areas of prescription and non-prescription drugs.

Why are sustainable labels useful?

In part, sustainability is an image issue. Sustainability aspects are in vogue. There is a general social expectation that all industries - including the pharmaceutical industry - should address this issue.

The interest in sustainable labels also has practical and, above all, financial reasons. Many key raw materials are becoming increasingly expensive. This is especially true for products based on petroleum.

With the constant shortage of resources in this field, a need arises to replace the scarce raw materials with others. If these are sustainable, for example can be recycled or are renewable, there is a cost advantage with sustainable labels in the medium term.

Sustainable pharmaceutical labels can not only improve the image of the pharmaceutical industry, but also save costs in the long run.

 

What materials can be used to make sustainable labels?

Conventional film solutions have a plastic base, for example polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE). These have proven to be particularly resistant to external influences and durable. Sustainable versions consist of, for example:

• recycled polyethylene elements and sustainable additives such as calcium carbonate
• specially refined paper variants with environmentally friendly coatings
• Cellulose films
• bio-based PE film
• wood based PP film

Bio-based PE film, for example, is made from sugarcane ethanol. Many of the sustainable label solutions are recyclable and compostable

In the future, you can expect to see many more sustainable materials and material blends being developed for pharmaceutical industry labels. The trend towards sustainability seems to be unbroken. It is gradually gaining acceptance among most manufacturers.

In this context, it will be interesting to see what the regulatory authorities think of the sustainable label solutions. There are probably still a few unanswered questions here.

Sustainable materials are not only needed in the pharmaceutical industry. You can find out about many other topics at any time in our blog!

 

What does the future hold for sustainable labels in the pharmaceutical industry?

Not least due to the increasing scarcity of certain resources such as crude oil, sustainable labels are likely to become a matter of course for the pharmaceutical industry in the foreseeable future. The day is likely to come when there will be no other labels.

You could almost say sustainable labels have a bright future in the pharmaceutical industry. In principle, however, they are already the present. They have not yet become generally accepted because many detailed questions are still open and technical development has not yet been completed in many cases.

It's not just about finding a sustainable label material. This must integrate into the entire production and delivery process. Production machinery must be compatible with the new labels, as must printers.

Printer inks must be matched to this. Many test series still need to be completed before the resistance of sustainable labels can be proven. Nevertheless, the future belongs to sustainable pharmaceutical labels.

Conclusion

Sustainability has arrived in the pharmaceutical industry. Here, the topic is also moving into areas such as packaging and labeling. More and more producers in the packaging and label field are focusing on the development of sustainable pharma labels.

In the foreseeable future, more and more companies will opt for sustainable labels in the pharmaceutical industry, and not just for image reasons. Due to the scarcity of resources of petroleum-based products, it is not least a question of cost to take sustainability seriously down to the last detail. As the first sustainable labels show, sustainable solutions in this area are possible and convincing. Let yourself be surprised by further developments.

FAQ

1. Do sustainable labels have a future in the pharmaceutical industry?
   With the shortage of petroleum, alternatives to plastic materials will become increasingly important in the future. Sustainable labels in the pharmaceutical industry may become the norm and are then no longer worthy of special mention.
2. What makes sustainable labels interesting in the pharmaceutical industry?
   Companies in the pharmaceutical industry have to ask themselves the question of costs if they use petroleum-based film labels on a permanent basis. Pharmaceuticals are sometimes mass-produced, so the demand for labels is high.
   For cost reasons, pharmaceutical companies therefore cannot do without addressing the issue of sustainability in labels in the pharmaceutical industry. Likewise, it is an image issue to focus on sustainability. Societal expectation is high on this issue.
3. Is packaging for pharmaceutical products becoming sustainable overall?
   This isto be expected. Sustainability aspects now characterize most major industrial sectors and continue to be a trend.

 

Your question was not answered in the FAQs? Then feel free to contact us!

 

Behind the ideological and moral aspects of environmentally friendly processes as well as materials, there is also a hard cost effect. Petroleum-based raw materials are becoming rarer and more expensive. Sustainability is therefore essential for the survival of the entire packaging sector and not just labels in the pharmaceutical industry.