PACKAGING MACHINERY & AUTOMATION
Strip packaging technology pushes sustainability boundaries Romaco Siebler and Huhtamaki are adopting new approaches to primary packaging for pharmaceutical solids with push-through strips, known as push packs. Andreas Detmers, head of technical solutions at Romaco Pharmatechnik, takes a detailed look at the benefits of this new technology.
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limate-friendly, material-
responsible for push pack development at
because we’ve worked together effectively
saving, affordable,
Romaco Pharmatechnik.
in the past. Romaco and Huhtamaki are
customisable and ultra-thin – Romaco Siebler’s push pack
The standard and high-barrier push
two companies with complementary
pack versions are manufactured from a
expertise,” reports Fabio Daidone, senior
manufacturing technology heralds in a
five-layer, laminated PE or surlyn, aluminium
sales manager at Huhtamaki.
new era in primary packaging for solid
and PET foil supplied by Huhtamaki. The
pharma products.
foil’s push-through function is achieved
Unique heat-sealing technology
by perforating the outer PET layer. In the
Romaco Siebler’s strip packaging
Huhtamaki, the Finnish film and foil
standard version, push packs have an
machines are designed to process
specialist, to develop its push pack
aluminium barrier layer, either 9μm or 12μm
a very wide range of heat-sealable
product family. It is currently the only
thick. High-barrier push packs, which have
materials, from paper-aluminium foils
machinery supplier in the market with the
to meet very high air, light and moisture
and plastic to polyester. To enable safe
capability to process the new, ultra-thin,
tightness requirements, are made using
and absolutely tight pharma packaging
PVC-free Huhtamaki foils into safe and
25µm aluminium foil. What’s more is these
to be manufactured from the new
absolutely tight pharmaceutical packs.
push packs contain zero PVC, which is
Huhtamaki foils, the Siebler heat-sealing
considered harmful to human health and
technology was specially adapted to
the environment.
handle laminates with an aluminium foil
Romaco Siebler partnered with
These push-through strip packs are the partnership’s alternative to the established blister packaging forms currently on the
thickness of between 9μm and 25μm.
market. Push packs provide equivalent
A world first
barrier properties to blisters and are
Both the standard and high-barrier push
currently the only ones on the market
opened in the same way – you simply
packs have a much better eco-profile than
capable of processing Huhtamaki’s ultra-
press the tablet out of the push pack
blister packs. Yet Romaco and Huhtamaki
thin foils into primary packaging, in line
with your thumb. They are also similar in
have gone one step further, introducing the
with the pharma industry’s safety and
appearance to conventional blister packs.
world’s first recyclable strip packaging for
tightness requirements – and doing so
pharmaceutical solids.
using recyclable materials,” says Izsak.
Major cost saving Since push packs are sealed all round with two foils, far thinner aluminium barrier layers can be realised than with coldformed blisters. The thinner barrier ranges between 9μm and 25μm depending on the
“Our heat-sealing machines are
Push packs help pharmaceutical companies to not only reduce their carbon footprint but also their production costs The eco push pack version consists of
Push packs are manufactured on the
primary packaging’s barrier specifications.
polyolefin laminate, which can be disposed
Romaco Siebler HM 1 series of vertical
With aluminium-aluminium blisters,
of as recyclable material. An impressive 70%
heat-sealing machines, which can pack
because the aluminium is deep-drawn, a
or more of the material can be recycled
up to 7 000 tablets per minute.
much thicker foil is inevitable. This is why a
back into the material loop. The key lies in
The HM 1-350 and HM 1-600 models
cold-formed aluminium-aluminium blister
the unique structure of the Huhtamaki foil –
(with a maximum foil width of 350mm or
weighs more than twice as much as a
recyclable push packs comprise over 90%
600mm) are also suitable for this purpose
high-barrier push pack produced on a
polyethylene and polypropylene, which
in addition to the HM 1-230 type with a
Siebler strip packaging machine.
belong to the same material class.
maximum foil width of 230mm.
The markedly lower material
Huhtamaki’s special new foils were
In future, it will also be possible to
consumption is complemented by
tested extensively on a Romaco Siebler HM
produce push packs on heat-sealing
significant cost economies: a potential
1-230 strip packaging machine at PacTech,
machines in the Romaco Siebler
saving of up to 60% is possible compared
the Romaco laboratory located in
HM 2 series.
to standard aluminium-aluminium blisters.
Karlsruhe, Germany. The optimum sealing
HM 2 machines are designed to pack
conditions were determined while the foils
medical devices like pre-filled syringes or
were subjected to various leak tests.
eye drops in unit doses,
“Push packs help pharmaceutical companies to not only reduce their carbon footprint but also their production costs,” explains Rolf Izsak, the product manager
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| MAY 2020 | P C Review
“We decided to develop our new, pushthrough foils in partnership with Romaco
which have to be fed horizontally due to their geometry.
