Nordic Life Science 1
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PHARMACEUTICAL WASTE SOLUTIONS IN OUR NEXT ISSUE INNOVATION substance is added to separate the blister pack components. Polish researchers have developed a process to recover aluminum and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from pharmaceutical blister packaging waste. ASTE COMPONENTS FROM pharmaceutical blister packs have been recovered to a relatively small extent, for example due to difficulties in separating the substances from which they are made. The research team at the Faculty of Chemistry, University of Lódz, Poland, headed by Professor Marek Zielinski, has now been able to recover two raw materials from pharmaceutical blister packaging waste materials, aluminum and PVC. “The advantage of the method is that the output of the recycling process of 106 NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG large amounts of blister packaging waste materials as well as unused blister packs, withdrawn due to bacteriological contamination, are two wholesome products, polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and aluminum, which can be reused,” stated Zielinski to Science in Poland. The materials could be used again and the process is described as waste-free. PVC AND ALUMINUM In the new method the blisters are sorted by PVC color, granulated, and the recycled material is placed in a hermetically sealed prototype container, designed by the researchers. In this container a liquid LISTER PACKAGING COMPONENTS are separated due to the difference in density; PVC material is deposited in the upper and aluminum in the lower layer. After that both components are air-dried without mixing them. An additional disk mixing device that does not cause layers to rise and mix has also been proposed to accelerate sedimentation (aluminum deposit formation). GOLD MEDAL The scientists’ method won a gold medal at the International Invention and Design Expo (KIDE) in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, last year. They have also received a special award from the Toronto International Society of Innovation & Advanced Skills. The researchers have filed patent applications regarding the separation of the blister packaging waste components and the container that they have developed. NLS