Seniors with strength and vision limitations may require larger, more costly packages that use more packaging. Those challenges provide opportunities for the packaging community.

Getting older beats the alternative, although it presents packaging challenges related to economics and sustainability. That’s the word from Derek Hindle, global innovation director, Global Closure Systems, in a video interview at Pharmapack 2010 conducted by in-Pharma Technologist.com.

Hindle explains that seniors are challenged visually and sometimes by a lack of physical ability. That can lead to the need for larger packaging that adds to costs and use of materials. He also touches on the age-old challenge of developing packaging that’s friendly to seniors, yet child-resistant.

There is a silver lining, it would appear, for the packaging community to work with seniors in focus groups or surveys to improve the CR/SF attributes and get a better read on what improvements seniors would be willing to pay for to make packs easier to read, open, and use.