WorldStar Winner: The First Application of “Resource Recycling Project” to Pharmaceutical Packaging

WINNERS 2025

Disclaimer:
-The image and text displayed in the blue box have been provided directly by the applicant of WorldStar.
-This information, including the submitted images, is the sole responsibility of the respective company.
-WPO and WorldStar do not assume any liability for the accuracy or content of the provided information.
-By submitting their entry, the applicants grant WPO permission to publish these details upon winning.

The First Application of “Resource Recycling Project” to Pharmaceutical Packaging

Company:

Resource Recycling Project (Shionogi Pharma, NEION, TOYOBO, TOPPAN INFOMEDIA, Mitsui Bussan Chemicals, YAMATO BOX CHARTER)

www.shionogi-ph.co.jp/en/

Country: Japan

Category: Medical and Pharmaceutical

Label backing release liner typically uses composite materials of paper and resin, which are generally difficult to recycle. As a result, they become a large amount of industrial waste and are incinerated. In the Japanese manufacturing industry, the volume of such waste has risen to 1.39 billion* m² per year. In this project, we replace these label backing release liner with release liner for recycling made from PET-based synthetic paper. After use, the release paper is collected as valuable materials and subjected to material recycling. By using the recycled material again as a raw material for release liner for recycling, we achieve Film-to-Film recycling. This will enable the social implementation of closed recycling system of label backing release liner.

We aim to establish the recycling arteriovenous functions within the project, forming a closed-loop system where resources continuously circulate horizontally. Our goal is to realize a circular economy that achieves reduction of CO2 emissions and zero waste of release paper.

As of July 2024, 35 organizations are participating in this project and the separation and collection of release liner for recycling have already begun for eight users including Shionogi Pharma, Kao, and National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations Gifu. The recycling plant dedicated to this project, which was completed in April 2024 has started the phased recycling of release liner for recycling collected from these users.

The amount of treatment this fiscal year 2024 is expected to be approximately 15 tons, and the reduction in CO2 emissions is expected to be 169 tons. We aim to recycle 200 tons annually by 2026 and 700 tons annually by 2030. Ultimately, we are committed to achieving zero disposal of label backing release liner by implementing specific initiatives both domestically and internationally.

Read More

Since April 2022, Shionogi Pharma has been participating in the “Resource Recycle Project,” which aimed to achieve horizontal recycling of label backing sheets. In March 2023, Shionogi Pharma started commercially applying horizontally recyclable label backing sheets to labels used for nine types of ampoule injections; this was the first initiative in commercial production.

In this project, we are recycling the label backing sheets (i.e., release paper, label liner). Although labels are critical for displaying information in the pharmaceutical industry, most of their backing sheets are not recycled as resources but discarded or incinerated. Essentially, an equivalent number of backing sheets to the labels produced is generated and disposed of. The “Resource Recycle Project” introduces a novel initiative to eliminate waste from label backing sheets by switching to a plastic film made with over 25% recycled PET material, known as “recycling-dedicated backing sheets.” Like plastic bottles, these sheets can be collected and reused, thereby circulating as a resource, and achieving zero wastes in factories. In our project, the recycling-dedicated backing sheets collected from factories are recycled into new backing materials, allowing the resources to continue circulating.

The Resource Recycle Project has established functions at the “arterial function,” where products are created, and the “venous function,” where waste is collected and recycled. Arterial function begins with the production of the film that will become the “recycling- dedicated backing sheet.” This film is coated with an adhesive to create the base material for labels, which are then printed and cut into shapes, eventually reaching label users like Shionogi Pharma.

The products with applied labels reaching people are followed by venous function. Once enough are accumulated, these are transported to recycling facilities across the nation using the Yamato Group’s logistics network, where material recycling is carried out; in this process, contaminants are removed, and the backing sheets are finely shredded into flakes, which are then melted at high temperatures and form pellets. These pellets are used as raw materials to produce new films, completing a cycle repeated throughout the project scheme.

This initiative has demonstrated horizontal recycling for pharmaceutical packaging, which is difficult to use recycling material, and has big ripple effect that can be expanded to all industries which use labels.

Read Less