Health Meets Resource Conservation: Making Blister Packaging More Sustainable

During the last allergy season, they may have ended up in your garbage once again: Blister packs. And you may have noticed how few tablets there are in a comparatively large pack. Not particularly sustainable, is it? Olivia Falconnier-Williams thought so too, and together with Prof. Dr. med. Walter E. Haefeli from Heidelberg University Hospital, she researched how packaging could be made more resource-efficient.

In an interview with K-Mag, Olivia Falconnier Williams talks about her research findings on more sustainable blister packaging and her experiences as a young scientist - and gives tips to other young researchers.

What prompted your research on the topic of waste prevention in blister packaging?

Olivia Falconnier Williams: Now that the healthcare system has become one of the largest consumers of resources in Western countries, responsible management of these resources is becoming increasingly important. Awareness of this connection is only just emerging in the healthcare sector and general standards for sensible resource conservation have neither been discussed nor introduced. This makes it all the more important to identify options that conserve resources and can be implemented immediately without any loss of quality or regulatory obstacles.

What conclusions have you drawn from your research?

Falconnier Williams: In a very large sample of medicines that are very frequently taken in Germany, we showed that they are predominantly packaged in individual blisters, but practically never in a resource-saving manner. For example, the packaging material of the blister strips between the blister chambers typically took up much more space (= material requirement) than the actual blister chambers. The extrapolation of an optimal placement with little space in between showed that typically one third of the packaging material - plastic-aluminum composite material, rarely mainly aluminum - could be saved.

For many reasons, this practice should be changed as soon as possible:

1. it is not necessary to leave such large gaps for the correct removal of medicines.
2. The material used is practically never recycled, as it is difficult to separate the glued or welded (composite) materials again in a meaningful and economical way.
3. The secondary packaging that wraps the blister strips is also correspondingly larger, which is why the avoidable weight of the primary packaging is automatically added to the avoidable weight of the secondary packaging; both lead to larger transport volumes and weights and ultimately to higher transport costs per dosage form.

Given the sheer volume of medicines consumed in Germany (and worldwide) and the extremely long transport routes (due to production often on other continents), it is astonishing why this has not been optimized long ago.

What steps could be taken to put your findings and proposed solutions into practice?

Falconnier Williams: There are already packs on the market that package the dosage forms very compactly, and there are no objective, medical or regulatory reasons not to declare this a new standard. Such an implementation could also be promoted by market-based incentives using already established methods (e.g. by exempting patients from co-payment, by preferential inclusion in the discount agreements between health insurance funds and manufacturers or by prioritization in the selection of hospitals' product ranges by their local drug commissions).

In addition, the labelling of resource-optimized pharmaceutical packaging could create transparency for customers as to whether the manufacturer has made efforts to optimize the ecological footprint. Especially when choosing generics, patients can directly determine which product they would like and thus actively limit the sale of non-ecological products. In a similar way, pharmacies could also adjust their stock range accordingly. Both manufacturers and pharmacies could advertise the fact that they also take care of these issues.

Your project idea came about while you were preparing for your graduation. How did you manage to start your research at such an early stage of your academic career and what challenges might you have overcome?

Falconnier Williams: The idea for the project came about while I was preparing for my Matura (Swiss general qualification for university entrance), in the context of the Matura thesis, my final scientific project. I am convinced that if you really want to do something, there is never a bad time. It was a unique opportunity for me to work so closely with Prof. Dr. med. Walter E. Haefeli from Heidelberg University Hospital - so I didn't even ask myself whether it might still be a bit early in my academic career. It was therefore obvious that some of my first scientific work was challenging. I had to learn how to collect and analyze data, how to research and cite correctly, how to structure a paper and much more.

What message would you like to pass on to other young scientists?

Falconnier Williams: I would give them two things: One, working with Prof. Dr. med. Walter E. Haefeli has shown me that no idea is 100% unrealizable. Every wish, every flash of inspiration and every experiment has a valuable influence on the end product and is therefore worth paying attention to.

On the other hand, it was also a very instructive time for me on a personal level, because I was under a lot of stress, as I had to juggle my A-level preparations and my involvement in competitive sport alongside this scientific work. This busy weekly schedule required well thought-out planning, which in the end significantly increased efficiency in all three areas. I would therefore recommend anyone in a similar situation to invest sufficient energy in planning and organization.