The marriage of sustainability and innovation provides for a potent combination in new product demand. As in all product development, improving or creating new products to meet evolving customer needs is crucial for success. That function is further enhanced when it also satisfies sustainability concerns, a benefit for consumers as well as producers in potentially achieving improved costs and performance.

A recent example is a pharmaceutical packaging solution, Shellpak Renew, developed by MeadWestvaco (MWW), which received the Best Sustainable Pharmaceutical Packaging award at CPhI Worldwide, which was held in Madrid in October. Shellpak® Renew is an environmentally friendly medication-adherence packaging solution.

Shellpak Renew was adapted based on customer research to deliver key patient improvements: decreased weight and size, including an environmentally friendly, curbside recyclable outer carton. Launched in April of this year, Shellpak Renew is part of MWV’s efforts to provide solutions for poor medication adherence. Shellpak Renew contains color-coded spine labels to help distinguish among drugs, easy-open, child-resistant push buttons, and an integrated calendar that helps patients track medication usage. Additionally, it provides a 40% weight-reduction compared with the company’s original Shellpak packaging and has an outer carton made of Natralock, an environmentally friendly paperboard that maximizes the use of recyclable materials and minimizes waste.

This year marked the introduction of the Best Sustainable Packaging award category of the CPhI Pharma Awards. The award recognizes companies that provide excellence in delivering a specific material, process or piece of equipment that enables pharmaceutical companies to achieve a more sustainable package or process.