Eliminating PVC and other plastics in tablet packs

The primary goal of the Collective is to incorporate the use of sustainable and renewable pulp materials to safely reduce and replace difficult-to-recycle and single-use plastics in tablet blister packs. PA Consulting, PulPac, and all of our Collective Members will be working together to develop both the packs and the industrial-scale manufacturing process that will be necessary to accelerate the transition to more sustainable blister packaging in the consumer health, pharmaceutical, and FMCG industries.

The Dry Molded Fiber technology is a more sustainable and scalable alternative to single-use plastic packaging. The fast dry process offers several design and manufacturing advantages, including high-speed and lowcost mass production.

While each product will have specific requirements, we expect the initial Dry Molded Fiber packs will enable a 90-95% reduction in plastic vs. current blister packaging. There will be some applications where 100% paper-based packs are possible.

Dry Molded Fiber converts renewable and recyclable fibers into packaging. As the name implies, the primary benefit of Dry Molded Fiber vs. wet molding is that it’s a dry process. Very little water is used in production and there is no need for additional energy to drive water off. That leads to two key benefits:

1. A better sustainability profile as water
use drops, as does associated energy.

2. These drive down the per unit production
time and costs, making scale possible.

As sustainability leaders in this space, our Collective Brand Members are proactively investing in blister packaging solutions that can:

1. Reduce overall environmental footprint
2. Reduce or eliminate plastic content
3. Transition away from PVC and materials that’s har to recyclehar to recycle
4. Increase recyclability

Our Dry Molded Fiber blister packs should help address all of those challenges.

We are already bringing Dry Molded Fiber technology to life in packaging solutions across product industries. The technology is highly versatile and a viable alternative for most rigid, single-use packaging.

The Bottle Collective is another active initiative. Similar to blister packs, we — together with PA Consulting and a number of Brand partners — are working together to demonstrate the first Dry Molded Fiber bottles.

We expect the current Collective program to develop the foundational blister packs, and the manufacturing process will run through the middle of 2024. Additional scale-up and enhancement of the production process alongside commercial equipment architecture will be critical to ensure broad market access.

The Collective approach allows for multiple parties across industries to all contribute toward solving a massive global challenge. Our Collective partnership will mean accelerated learning and growth in ways that are new and potent. And eventually, a greater collective impact in the market with a faster transition to more sustainable blister packaging.

PA has partnered with us for years to help bring Dry Molded Fiber packaging solutions to life for their global clients. PA primarily work with clients in two ways. They do custom development programs for individual clients to create bespoke Dry Molded Fiber packaging. For broader, more complex industry challenges like blister packaging, they undertake a Collective approach. By inviting multiple members into the Collectives, we can accelerate learning, reduce individual member investment, and maximize industry impact.