Following the Healthcare Plastic Recycling Council design guidelines, recommending switching from standard laminates to monomaterial packaging solutions, Coveris is presenting two recyclable solutions at Compamed: Flexopeel T and Formpeel T films.
These sustainable alternatives offer medical packaging products the same functionality and safety while minimising the packaging and product waste.
Jan-Willem Bruijsten, segment lead medical at Coveris, said: “At Coveris we built our entire strategy around a vision of no waste because we believe that fighting waste in all its forms is the driving force of a more sustainable future. We strive to produce fully recyclable packaging, made from a single polyolefin solution, with extended shelf-life to produce less product waste. On top of that, all Coveris facilities are using as much ‘green energy’ as possible, as well as using post-industrial recycling, to limit the operational waste.”
On display at Compamed is the three-sides sealed pouch made from uncoated Tyvek 1073B from DuPont, sealed to the new Flexopeel T pouch film from Coveris. Designed to offer all-round optimum protection, the solution has good puncture resistance, and fast identification of the packed medical device because of the film transparency. Using sterile and user-friendly extraction due to a soft and fibre-free peel, this PE based mono film fits with Ethylene Oxide (ETO) sterilisation as well as plasma and gamma irradiation. This solution can offer up to 10 years of product shelf life, depending on individual product features.
Answering the growing problem of correct identification of the high rated recyclable packaging by medical staff, Coveris is part of the Sterile Barrier Association (SBA) working group to create new icons on the packaging. The aim of the new identification system is to simplify recyclability and material origin in just one view, thus eliminating product waste.
For medical customers producing bulk devices using Form-Fill-Seal equipment, Coveris designed a packaging solution using uncoated Tyvek 1073B sealed to thermoformable monomaterial structure, called Formpeel T film. One of the key highlights of this PE material is that it can be produced from 100 µm up to 350 µm. The broad variation of thicknesses makes it the perfect solution for various applications, from very flexible packaging to semi rigid, replacing standard A-PET or even PET-G films. Another benefit is the low back shrink property and good forming characteristics of Formpeel T. Equipped also with a soft and fibre-free peel effect, Formpeel T ensures an easy sealing and has a very nice peel against Tyvek styles. This solution also perfectly fits with ETO sterilisation and gamma irradiation.
Bruijsten added: “It is worth underlying that both Flexopeel T and Formpeel T have been tested together with Tyvek 1073B at cyclos-HTP to define the total packaging recyclability. The combination of Formpeel T and Tyvek reached high recyclability (> 90 %), while Flexopeel and Tyvek reached excellent recyclability (> 95 %) levels. This makes both material combinations easy to recycle and a very sustainable solution compared to standard packaging available on the market.”