In the global economic and industrial system, the concepts of “zero packaging”, “simple packaging” and “green packaging” led by packaging revolution is on the rise and being put into practice. Green commodities and green packaging are the hotspots in the packaging industry and main trends of various industries in the future. Great importance is gradually attached to green packaging. It is an important historical responsibility of the packaging industry to achieve “green packaging”.
In addition to the common characteristics of general packaging materials, green packaging materials should have outstanding environmental performance, resource performance, reduction performance and recovery performance. According to the current research and development in various countries, green packaging materials are mainly divided into ten categories: recyclable or renewable packaging materials, biodegradable plastic packaging materials, edible packaging materials, natural plant fiber packaging materials, transgenic plant packaging materials, lightweight, thin, non-fluorinated and high-performance packaging materials, wood substitute packaging materials, green nano-packaging materials, green packaging auxiliary materials, and green packaging additives.
Pharmaceutical packaging plays an important role in ensuring the safety and effectiveness of drugs, and is attracting more and more attention. However, excessive packaging of drugs increases the burden on consumers and causes unnecessary waste.
The global market sales of pharmaceutical packaging is expected to reach USD 83.2 billion in 2018, with an annual compound growth rate of 5.96% from 2013 to 2018. The market sales of pharmaceutical packaging in China is expected to reach USD 8.23 billion in 2018, with an annual compound growth rate of 8.00%, which is the highest in the world.
Following the current “green packaging” trend, innovation and R&D must be accelerated in China’s pharmaceutical packaging field, so as to promote the further development of the industry.
