Intelsius, designer, manufacturer and distributor of temperature-controlled packaging solutions based in York, called for a collaboration between key stakeholders at the recent FlyPharma conference
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Intelsius’ product manager, David Johnson joined a line-up of industry experts to highlight common pharma logistics issues across the supply chain.
In Johnson highlighted the industry’s current fear of change’ in re-using passive packaging. He said: “Although active packaging is re-used daily all over the globe there is a reluctance to re-use passive packaging. This could be due to the fact that passive packaging has been single use for the majority of its history and was only qualified for this use. However, validated protocols to certify that passive packaging is safe to re-use are now in place, despite the pharma industry being slow to adopt them.
“Stakeholders need to look at the bigger picture, including the positive impacts on product integrity and financial outlay that re-usable passive packaging can have, rather than looking for reasons to avoid change. The notion that passive means single use is now out dated and simply wrong.”
However, a change in perception will not simply be enough to ensure the success of passive packaging’s multi-use success. Johnson called for a collaboration between stakeholders and suggested packaging suppliers educate their customer base on how it can be re-cycled properly to ensure it continues to be environmentally sustainable.