Cambé’s annual production of around 73 million blister packs generates a substantial amount of waste: 200 kilograms per day, which amounts to 47 tons every year. The waste is caused during equipment modifications, test and preruns, trimming, incorrect punching and unclean seals.
Until recently, the waste was disposed of in a landfill – an unsatisfactory solution for Hellen Schmitt, who knows that aluminum can be recycled easily and put to better use than simply throwing it away.
In their search for a new and sustainable solution, Schmitt’s team came across Unicomper, a Brazilian company specializing in a recycling process in which blister waste is turned into doors, trims and baseboard for civil construction.
PVC wood
Unicomper’s director, Jorge Luiz Furlan, hit upon the idea to reuse blister waste during a trip to China, where he saw competitors separate aluminum from PVC in blister packs. This inspired him to carry out his own research.
But unlike the Chinese companies, Furlan focused on the idea of reusing all the blister materials – PVC and aluminum. The recovered material, according to his vision, would serve as the starting point for an extrusion process that would help supply semi-finished products for doors, door jambs and skirting boards.
“After a series of tests and trials, we have found that the blister material can be used as a component together with other raw materials such as virgin resin, additives, carbonate and wood powder to create a ‘dough,’ which we call ‘PVC wood,’ and can be extruded into various forms,” Jorge Luiz Furlan says.
During the recycling process developed by Unicomper, the blister is shredded into microparticles. After this step the PVC and aluminum are separated in an electrostatic process and later mixed with other materials according to a special recipe to form a viscous dough that serves as the base for new products.
“The conversion of the waste is completely sustainable and does not cause any environmental impact, as the PVC extrusion process operates at 150 degrees Celsius,” Furlan explains, adding that “at this temperature, there is no decomposition of the material and no release of harmful gases.”
Unicomper now processes blister waste from around 10 different pharmaceutical companies in Brazil, including fungus- and termite-resistant doors and skirting boards for the Brazilian market.
At present, blister recycling works with unused material that falls off during the manufacturing process. The reason for this is the contamination of the blister packs with active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). These microtraces would end up in the final products and thus be released into the environment. As things stand today, there is still no valid and safe process that allows used blisters from the private sector or hospitals and clinics to be reused without risk.
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