When thinking medical and pharmaceutical industries we immediately think about two industries where reliability, freshness, stability and protection are critical. Thoroughness is essential and to get there, materials able to meet these standards must be used. Polystyrene is a good candidate; let’s learn more about it!
How Can Medical and Pharmaceutical Industries Use Polystyrene?
Polystyrene can be used for its many properties, such as stability, lightweight, lower cost, versatility, and insulating properties. It can also be used in various contexts, but is especially useful in packaging solutions to allow delivery a variety of merchandise. Among other things, expanded polystyrene insulation boxes can be used for transport of organs, blood, medication, specimens, etc. Because of its numerous properties, polystyrene provides benefits on many levels. Learn more in the next section.
Benefits of Polystyrene
Expanded polystyrene (EPS) can reduce the occurrence of damaged goods and reduce transport costs due to its lightweight. It also helps preserve longer than with other materials. In addition to extend the freshness, EPS is useful when thermal stability is important: it has excellent insulation properties as it is composed of 98% air. Besides its insulation property, its resistance to mildew makes expanded polystyrene a smart choice for food, medical and pharmaceutical packaging. EPS allows designing of efficient and cost-effective packaging that maintains the temperature of perishable products requiring shipment or storage in controlled environments. This material is inorganic and rot-proof, resisting water and moisture; which means it does not stimulate mold growth.
Plastic in all its forms is found in the medical field: it contributes to many innovations and can help save lives. To date, it has led to two major breakthroughs: sterile plastic packaging and disposable medical items. These articles have helped prevention of a wide range of infections, which constitutes one of the leading causes of death worldwide. For its part, expanded polystyrene ensures the reliability of the contents it carries, prevents contamination, stores important health and survival items, and more!
A Material Following Market Trends
Expanded polystyrene adapts to all project types and evolves with market demands. We are therefore able to design quality products that meet the growing demand for packaging solutions in the refrigerated products industry. Note that growth in this area depends on many factors. The first one is that EPS helps reduce or eliminate goods breakage; this is essential when carrying organs, samples, medication, etc. It also allows control the required energy for insulating boxes manufacturing, and the production method consumes less energy and pollutes less than cardboard boxes manufacturing.
EPS: A Recyclable Material
In addition to its numerous physical properties, this material is not harmful to the environment, is 100% recyclable, and contains no CFCs or HCFCs. There is no risk for health since the products made with expanded polystyrene are non-toxic: they are composed of 98% air and only 2% material! It is even possible to reuse the same box over and over, depending of the carried item in regards to safety requirements in your industry. These products are even recyclable once they reach the end of their useful life: simply drop them at your local ecocentre or at one of the expanded polystyrene collection points.
If you are working in this industry and would you like to reduce your losses, increase your product conservation, or simply solve another issue, we invite you to contact us so we can find a solution together.
Sources :
https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/expanded-polystyrene-eps-market