EPP Environmentally Preferred Packaging for Healthcare Products
EPP or Environmentally Preferred Packaging is fast becoming a strategic requirments with many major hospital groups. Strategically positioning packaging as environmentally friendly can be a key element to the making the sale or not. How many companies are strategically involved?
* indicates an article that was submitted directly to this Web site by the supplier, and was not handled by the Greener Package editorial staff.
Greener Package may share your contact information with our sponsors, as detailed in our Privacy Policy. Greener Package will not share your information with a sponsor whose content you have not reviewed. The members of the Advisory Board and Expert Network do not review, approve or endorse advertisements on this Web site.
EPP Environmentally Preferred Packaging for Healthcare Products
Scott Booth
Packaging for Healthcare has got a long way to go in even determining what EPP is. If we look at plastic packaging for pharmaceuticals and medical device packaging (the vast majority of what can be considered healthcare packaging), the package manufacturers are not even allowed to use trim scrap or closed loop regrind in their processes. This is despite the fact that all of the materials are fully FDA approved, have never left the plant and, in many cases, could be easily be fed back to the individual machines in a closed loop. Recycled content? Not even being considered by pharmaceutical companies or medical device manufacturers.
What does it matter if you use environmentally friendly materials (whatever they may be determined to be), if waste on a pretty substantial scale is tolerated?
EPP
kevin mulligan
I would agree that Healthcare has a way to go on EPP. However, virgin trim scrap can and has been used quite extensivly for medical device applications with class 1, 2 and 3 product lines. Pharmaceuticals however are a different story. Recycling of plastic has not taken the foothold expected either. What is happening however is the change in the types of plastics used. PVC and DEHP are under great fire, and many firms are converting to polyolefins due to issues with incineration etc. Reduction in material weight is a big issue and this is being piggybacked on efforts such as Green Dot in Germany and the Duales system. Not perfect, but progress is measurably better in many circles including recycling. I have written a white paper on the subject if you are interested.
EPP
John Bernardo
I have managed to convince a medical center client to replace IV Bags made with PVC and DEHP to Vis-A-Vis or other bags which do not contain either controversial plastic. The concern with DEHP was based upon potential impacts to the patient and that of the PVC based upon the production of dixoins when the used bags are incinerated.
I would appreciate receiving a copy of the white paper.
EPP
kevin mulligan
The white paper is going to be published very shortly, possibly here on this forum. I hope within the next week or two.
I agree; there is much work being done on replacement of IV bags with polyolefin strructures for the reasons you point out.
Post new comment