Marchesini Group, a leading company in the design and production of automatic lines and machines for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics packaging, has become a conscious and active player in the field of sustainability in the packaging supply chain. In recent years, a dedicated cross-functional team has been created, primarily focused on analysing new types of packaging materials and, subsequently, on testing their machinability in synergy with suppliers. This led to the creation of a network of collaborations with producers of new mono-material and recyclable packaging films, which has fostered mutual discussions aimed at improving the workability characteristics of materials and the performance of the machines handling them.
The project also involved various divisions of the Group with the goal of creating synergies and developing a standardised working method that considers both the different needs of each machine and their integration in the production lines. The results of all these activities have led to the creation of an internal database that brings together all the know-how derived from the case studies conducted. This database is now a benchmark to help customers identify and implement the most suitable solution for their product’s needs.
The backdrop to this project is the new EU Regulation 2025/40 of 19/12/2024, which will supersede Directive 94/62/EC, with the aim of providing a harmonised and certain framework for the industry’s operations. This regulation, which came into force in February 2025 and will be applicable from August 12, 2026, establishes environmental sustainability requirements for the entire lifecycle of packaging. In particular, it introduces numerous objectives for the recyclability of packaging and its recycled content, while recognising the priority of safety, quality, and protection of human health, with some exemptions for the pharmaceutical sector.
Marchesini Group’s solutions in detail
Marchesini Group produces machines and lines able to package products with different types of materials, including paper, recyclable and recycled mono-material plastics, and aluminium. One of the latest innovations from the Group is a machine designed to carton vials in paper trays: this solution is presented together with a new paper tray design, researched and developed entirely by the Group itself, which generates savings of about fifty percent in terms of paper and about fifty percent in terms of glue.Moreover, the new paper tray is thinner, providing space savings of thirty percent when products are combined inside the case, with clear benefits during shipment in terms of shipping volumes and relative CO2 emissions. The Group, which has been developing paper tray solutions for over ten years as a valid, safe alternative to thermoformed plastic, has created this new prototype with the aim of guaranteeing even more responsible use of packaging material, while further reducing production costs and avoiding waste. A further innovation is the introduction of technologies in the packaging processes aimed at gradually replacing PVC and introduce mono-material packaging solutions made with recyclable materials in the thermoforming of blisters and trays.
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Over more than two years of experimentation and collaboration with some of the main packaging manufacturers, Marchesini Group technicians have worked to create blisters and trays that can be easily disposed of through normal recycling channels.
In particular R-PET, PET with up to 100% recycled content, has allowed the creation of mono-material packaging that is perfectly suited to the purpose. For primary packaging, there are also recyclable mono-material packaging solutions in PP and HDPE. For products requiring a higher barrier, on the other hand, there is also a new generation of aluminium products with more than 70% aluminium content and which are PVC-free.
The solutions also include a line comprising a Schmucker 12-lane stick packaging machine, a stick inspection system and innovative printing systems. This line is designed to process PP-based packaging materials (with and without PE) such as 100% recyclable mono-material plastics like OPP or BOPP with a metallised intermediate layer. Due to its suitability for food contact, this material is a valid polyolefin-based substitute for the traditional PET/ALU material for production of high-barrier flexible packaging.The sustainability of packaging materials is just one of the many frontiers in which Marchesini Group is investing in order to comply with the paradigms of the circular economy: it is also engaged in other activities such as the business of Rinova, the company created to give new life to pre-owned original Marchesini lines and machines. Indeed, its remanufacturing process allows the Group to offer customers a more advantageous solution in both economic and environmental terms, with the same level of quality and reliability.