PERPETUA ALTA: Alternative to Aluminium multi-layered plastic for Pharma products
The worldwide third-largest flexible packaging supplier introduced the first ready-to-be-recycled mono-material based on PP-polypropylene with high chemical resistance for pharmaceutical products.
“We emphasize the necessity for more sustainable packaging in the pharmaceutical packaging industry with our invention PERPETUA ALTA,” says Joerg Adrian, Vice President of Technical Organization & Innovation Pharma of Constantia Flexibles. The most recent addition to its development portfolio incorporates “Design for Recycling” guidelines with high chemical resistance against aggressive liquid or gel formulations. The mono-polymer plastic substitutes the multi-material packaging for chemically aggressive products such as pharmaceutical liquid and gel compositions. “It was our objective to acquire a high-performance ready-to-be-recycled solution. Although developed for highly aggressive pharma products, PERPETUA ALTA may also find applications in other features requiring high chemical resistance, e.g., food applications,” added Joerg Adrian. Even third-party certification from the German Institute cyclos-HTP approves the material recovery of up to 96%, depending on the last material configuration.
Performance: High chemical resistance
Conventional multilayer pack for pharmaceutical products is not recyclable due to the various structure of different materials. Options, such as recyclable mono-polyethylene (PE) or mono-polypropylene (PP) laminates, complete the recyclability factor but do not deliver the needed performance about chemical resistance.
“Our R&D and product leadership team performed hard to get where we are today: a complete PP (polypropylene) recyclable solution with high chemical resistance (HCR) towards aggressive filling products,” described Roberto Martin, Head of Innovation Laminates at Constantia Flexibles’ plant in Logroño, Spain. PERPETUA ALTA can resist, e.g., hydro-alcoholic gel under accelerated aging requirements, equivalent to aluminum-containing multi-material laminates compliant with HCR provisions.
Corresponded to a traditional laminate solution, this innovative laminate shows optimal product protection from oxygen, water vapor, and light at a less weight and increased yield. PERPETUA ALTA is a drop-in solution for existing packaging structures based on laminates like stick packs, sachets, and strip packs.
Required for the production: The packaging equipment does not have to be substituted; the existing machine can be used.
