Sustainable relay packaging!

In the overall assessment of components, packaging as an integral part of a product should not be neglected when considering sustainability. Due to the short period of use, which in some cases is only a few days, the impact on sustainability in relation to the product life cycle is very high.

ELESTA GmbH has subjected its relay packaging to a sustainability check. The core of the previous packaging was a blister made of PET-A, which has been replaced by a biodegradable plastic based on a biobinder with chalk, lime and cellulose fibres. At the same time, the delivery distance of the blister was reduced by around 6000 kilometres. No bleached surface was used for the cardboard tube that encloses the blister and the plastic label was replaced by a paper label with PFAS-free adhesive. All materials are recyclable and suitable for industrial composting. In addition, the blister packs can be used as returnable packaging or returned to the manufacturing process as recyclate. The quality of the packaging has been con-firmed by numerous tests. The new sustainable packaging has been in use since November 2024.

In the project, the packaging was redesigned in line with the R-strategies and the circular economy model. In this small-scale project, the requirements for a sustainable product were easily implemented from the design process through the entire supply chain to further use and recycling.