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Safe for the patient, sustainable for the planet

Safe for the patient – sustainable for the planet. Our ambition is to solve this challenge and advocate for product and supply chain solutions minimizing environmental impacts with no compromise on patient safety.

Every minute, about 25’000 injections are relying on safe primary packaging solutions delivered by SCHOTT Pharma. A resilient supply of our products is our central contribution to global health.

Next to this, we as SCHOTT Pharma strive to minimize the environmental impact which comes with our products. “Up to 80% of a product’s life cycle environmental impact is determined by its design” is pointed out by experts of Siemens in their Harvard Business Review article. It is about choosing the right materials, but also thinking about how products can be treated at their end-of-life. Therefore, our stewardship for sustainable products starts from product design, supply chain optimization, transport packaging concepts to circularity partnerships and collaboration for industry change. Industry exchange via public presentations or co-organization of events are important means to enlarge the impact of our activities and to fight the global challenge of climate change.

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Ecodesign

We ensure that environmental impacts are considered from the start by training product development staff on our Ecodesign guideline. This guideline is formulated for parenteral packaging products. It includes best practices and orientation for a holistic end-to-end thinking process, including material selection, manufacturing processes, packaging density considerations and design for circularity. Design reviews within product development projects verify whether design decisions are in compliance with the Ecodesign guideline. Furthermore, we have established life cycle assessment (LCA) competence via dedicated, trained experts to support reliable conclusions when taking decisions on product design or implementation scenarios.

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Circular Packaging

We know that beyond the primary packaging containers, secondary packaging elements such as nest, tub or bags are major contributors to the product carbon footprint. Hence, rethinking packaging from material selection to design considerations and end-of-life compatibility is a focus on our agenda. By collaboration with like-minded suppliers, partners and customers, we have evaluated best-balance solutions that reduce the need for virgin materials, waste and related emissions. What is the best-balance is a case-to-case decision reflecting environmental, quality, logistic and financial considerations. We are happy to have the support of our customers to jointly pioneer and pilot new solutions.

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Collaboration for Sustainable Products

Collaboration forms a central element in SCHOTT Pharma’s sustainability strategy. Joining forces with suppliers, partners, and customers enables us to validate problem statements and ensure that the solution is accepted across the value chain. Next to several bi- or multilateral project initiatives, we are a founding member of the Alliance to Zero, a membership association of like-minded companies striving for decarbonization along the value chain of injection devices. This enables us to challenge current practices and co-innovate new concepts, services, and products for meaningful industry-wide change.

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Pioneering pharmaceutical packaging

Climate change presents a significant threat to our environment, and the pharmaceutical industry has a crucial role in addressing this challenge. By collaborating with customers and partners throughout the value chain, SCHOTT Pharma develops solutions that reduce environmental impact while ensuring patient safety remains uncompromised. Download the whitepaper to learn more about our innovative solutions.

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Scroll our gallery of selected sustainable product innovations

A glass syringe infront of a man and young boy.

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FIOLAX® Pro

Today, the melting of glass applies fossil energy and represents the largest carbon footprint contribution of glass based primary packaging. By 2026, we are starting to integrate SCHOTT’s new electrified melting technology to convert glass containers. In combination with our green electricity coverage this supports footprint saving for our glass vials, ampoules and cartridges of about 50%, depending on format and container complexity.

Opend tub with polymer syringes in nest configuration.

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Nest densification

Today, the industry prioritizes standardization. For syringes this often means that there are 100 syringes in one nest, although a denser packaging is feasible. Together with pioneering customers, we have broken this logic. With thorough redesign, we overcome the related change cost by saving packaging materials and increasing utilization during transport and sterilization at equal to faster filling line processability.

Man looking at blister-free packaging of polymer syringes with polymer syringe in hand.

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Secure blisterfree syringe packaging

Today, final packaging of syringes often applies a thermoformed blister to mechanically protect the syringe and assure tamper evidence. Together with our Alliance to Zero partners Schreiner Medipharm and Körber, we transferred the blister’s functionality to syringe, label and carton. This new dress code for prefilled syringes comes with less material and supports ease for manufacturing, cost efficiency in logistics and simplified handling during use.

Recycled tray on table filled with vials.

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Trays from closed-loop recycling

Today, secondary packaging for the transportation of vials and other drug containment products is made exclusively from virgin polymer materials. This is done to minimize the risk of contamination to the later drug product. However, after a single use, all this high quality packaging material becomes waste. In collaboration with our development partners, we have established and demonstrated a closed-loop recycling system that ensures material composition, contamination control and tray functionality. Trays made with 70% recycled content from this system showed a carbon footprint reductions of approximately 50% compared to those made from virgin materials.

Learn more about our how we co-innovate closed-loop recycling with our partners

Get in touch

Dr. Arne Kloke

Head of Service and Sustainability Management

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