Swindon's Wasdell Group, a specialist supplier of packaging to the pharmaceutical, medical and healthcare industries, has developed the world’s first plastic blister packs that are biodegradable when exposed to water or landfill. The product can be supplied at no extra cost to its customers.

A blister pack that maintains the integrity of the pills or food supplements it protects and will biodegrade rapidly after use, has been the Holy Grail of the pharmaceutical and nutritional industries for many years.

Heightened awareness of the global threat of non-degradable plastics has made the search for a solution even more pressing, as drug manufacturers, governments and consumers become more conscious of the long-term detrimental effects that waste plastic is having on the environment.

Following years of trials, Wasdell Group’s R & D division has produced blister packs that protect the drugs or nutrients from contact with oxygen and moisture and prevent contamination by odour and microbial attack, while allowing the packaging to degrade after use.  Unlike products that are manufactured using oxo-degradable additives, Wasdell says that its blister packs are 100 per cent shelf stable and 96 per cent biodegradable when placed in an aerobic or anaerobic environment, waste water or marine water.

More information can be found here.