How to Realise a Circular Approach to Drug-delivery-solutions

The world is looking for companies across all industries to take leadership positions that not only advance their traditional business metrics but more importantly improve their impact on the environment and people’s lives around the world. When it comes to sustainability, there is not a single easy solution to solve all issues. Instead, taking a holistic view across various aspects of our business has led Aptar along the path to meeting its sustainability goals. Companies are increasingly adopting the principles of the circular economy where waste and pollution are eliminated or reduced as they are designed out of products throughout their lifecycle.

And it’s not just manufacturers who are supporting these potential solutions. Consumers are also demanding higher recyclability of products and are willing to pay more for them. In a recent Aptar Pharma survey conducted in 2022 with German, French and American participants, 77% of in total 840 respondents indicated that it was important or very important that the products they buy can be recycled. Further, 60% of respondents consider the recyclability of products when making purchasing decisions and 70% said they were willing to pay more for a product that they could recycle. Participants also voiced that they were willing to adapt their consumption habits to contribute to a reduced environmental impact, with six of ten respondents willing to use a refill/reload system to reduce environmental impact. These survey results confirm that consumer demand for increased sustainability, recycling, and circular economy initiatives will be reflected in their buying decisions moving forward. At Aptar, we’ve strategically assessed our businesses, which encompass pharmaceuticals, beauty, personal care, home care, food, and beverages, and have worked to embed sustainability throughout our business and within our product offerings. As the pharmaceutical industry is subject to very strict regulations, the introduction of such sustainability initiatives within our Pharma business must achieve not only the sustainability objectives but also maintain adherence to all regulatory, GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice), and quality requirements. We have categorised our sustainability programs into three main action areas: Care, Collaboration, and Circularity.

Care

As a company, we show care to our employees, communities, and environment by continuously improving our impact and reducing our footprint. Our focus on care – for people and for our shared environment – as a key element of how we shape our future and achieve our objectives. Last year, Aptar was named a Global Top 10 Female-Friendly Company by Forbes for its progress in leading the way to support women inside and outside of their workforce. Notably, at Aptar in 2021, women accounted for 20 percent of leaders at the Vice President level and above. We have also grown our Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to include the ALIGN Women’s Network, BOLD (Black/African American or African Descent), and ARC (LGBTQ+ community and their allies). We support these people-focused initiatives, as Aptar firmly believes in the diversity and importance of every employee and the potential benefit they bring to Aptar, our customers, and the world. The second aspect of our care action area is reducing our footprint on the environment. We established a science-based target for the reduction of our Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions by 28% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline. By the end of 2021, Aptar proudly achieved 74% of the goal, well in advance of the original target date. Aptar remained on track to achieve the goal to source more renewable energy. In 2021, renewables accounted for 96% of electricity purchased, with the goal of a 100% target by 2030. Also of note, 63% of Aptar’s facilities had achieved Landfill Free site certification at the year-end of 2021 through our dedication to our internal waste reduction certification programs. We have additional sustainability targets related to both people and the planet and we remain committed to building a better future. (see table 1). Our care action area demonstrates that through care for both people and the environment, Aptar can achieve broader objectives benefitting the company, customers, and the planet.