Validation of the Paper Protect Production Process and Strategic Launch Planning

• Grant number: 24/23399-0
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Innovative Research in Small Business - PIPE
• Start date: February 01, 2025
• End date: March 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering - Product Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Maria Izabel Magalhães Viana Fittipaldi
• Grantee: Maria Izabel Magalhães Viana Fittipaldi
• Associated researchers: Lauriston Francisco Pinto
• Associated research grant: 24/10521-2 - Validation of the Paper Protect Production Process and Strategic Launch Planning, AP.PIPE

Abstract

Taking care of the health of the planet is no longer just a politically correct slogan but has become a fundamental need for this and future generations. The National Circular Economy Strategy responds to the global need to consider the circular economy as a sustainable alternative for continuity, given the prospect of scarcity of natural resources and their growing consumption. Legislation has a strong role to minimize the consumption of plastics and the amount of solid waste generated. The ban on supermarket bags, plastic straws, disposable utensils and other everyday items became a reality without there being a functional and economically viable alternative to replace them. Little attention has been paid to medicine packaging, which has the same undesirable consequence as packaging in general: the impossibility of proper disposal. In the short term, the increase in life expectancy and consumption of medicines should further increase the disposal of these packaging into the environment. The National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) has already started discussion on the subject, proposing that there be a shared responsibility between the various sectors involved. However, it is still difficult to assume such responsibility, since the solutions that are presented (sometimes in terms of cost, sometimes in terms of yield, sometimes in terms of productivity) are incapable of removing all the waste generated by the massive consumption of medicines from the environment. It is estimated that in Brazil more than 8 billion empty medicine packagings were discarded in 2022 alone. Faced with this scenario, Protect Mais developed the nanotechnological additive Paper Protect which, incorporated into a polymeric base and applied to paper, produces a sheet that , when used in the production of the blister, is capable of preserving the medicine within the required quality parameters throughout the entire shelf life. As it is produced with cellulosic substrate, it can be easily recycled after consuming its contents, with the possibility of reusing all components of the blister. This could enable the pharmaceutical segment to implement the circular economy together with recycling cooperatives. Another aspect that is little analyzed and of the same relevance is the growing demand to reduce emissions that cause global warming. Therefore, companies are looking for new options for raw materials and eco-efficient production processes. If we compare the environmental liabilities of the aluminum and Paper Protect production processes, the latter appears to be extremely advantageous. If we use the "Carbon Footprint" value to demonstrate the "environmentally friendly" capacity of Paper Protect, compared to aluminum, we would have that each square meter of Paper Protect produced generates approximately 0.12 kg of CO2 while the same amount of aluminum generates 1 .76 kg of CO2. In the overall process, replacing aluminum with Paper Protect removes CO2 from the environment. Finally, the raw material for aluminum production is finite compared to Paper Protect, which is renewable. In this scenario, the proposal to replace aluminum with Protect was well received by the pharmaceutical segment. It is worth noting that, in addition to the pharmaceutical industry, the medical materials, veterinary, food and hygiene industries are also audiences that can be served. With the operationalization of the production process, we hope to offer all industries that use blisters as packaging an ecologically viable alternative for the effective promotion of the concept of circular economy, focusing on the reduction and recycling of raw materials and energy, replacing the end-of-life concept of the linear economy, with new circular flows of reuse, restoration and renewal, in an integrated process of promoting the decoupling between economic growth and increased resource consumption. (AU)