Finnish packaging group Huhtamaki (Espoo; www.huhtamaki.com) has launched a PET-based, push-through blister lid packaging design for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry that is said to be more readily recyclable than traditional multi-material designs.

The mono-material Push Tab blister lid significantly improves recyclability of the flexible packaging and is free of aluminum and PVC, the company said. It noted that PET delivers superior optical clarity, and its heat-sealing structure is printable using standard technologies. The product can be manufactured on existing blister packaging lines without modification or investment and without compromising production speed, the supplier added.

Huhtamaki developed the technology with Derschlag (Bad Berleburg, Germany; www.derschlag.com), a specialty packaging film business for the health and personal care industry. Huhtamaki also partnered with German specialty film producer Klöckner Pentaplast (kp, Montabaur; www.kpfilms.com), which supplies its kpNext R1 rigid PET film for the bottom component of the blister packaging. The entire package is designed to be compatible with existing form-fill-seal equipment.

Huhtamaki recently announced plans to sell its four production facilities in Russia due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine (see Plasteurope.com of 21.04.2022).