Innovation and wellbeing blend together in Stoelzle’s new PharmaCos glass packaging line
It’s what’s on the inside that counts – but let’s not dismiss the outside. From CBD oils to nutraceuticals, essential oils, cosmeceuticals, and many more, the wellbeing sector is growing as consumers around the world turn towards a healthier lifestyle.
In turn, wellbeing and consumer healthcare brands and retailers are looking to the packaging that their products come in to deliver on innovative, non-toxic design that their customer base will embrace, while also delivering reliably on sustainability credentials to minimise waste.
Glass is an inert and safe packaging material that allows ingredients to be packaged in a sterile environment: ideal conditions for cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. With the average bottle containing 52% recycled glass, more and more glassmakers are using recycled materials to make new bottles and jars – protecting the planet and developing the circular economy. And as Europe performs increasingly better when it comes to glass collection, with a glass packaging collection rate of 80% and rising, further using recycled materials is a strategy that shows great potential for sustainable sourcing and packaging innovation across industries.
Step in, Stoelzle. They’ve taken this mission to heart with their newly-launched PharmaCos line of glass containers – which offer sleek, individualised design combined with high-quality recycled materials, all in line with pharmaceutical-grade standards. Their new bottles and jars contain up to 73% recycled content in amber and up to 38% in flint glass, while closures can also be tailored to suit the sustainability needs of brands and retailers.
Recycled materials for versatile use
Stoelzle’s new PharmaCos line includes a variety of glass containers, all specially designed for wellbeing and healthcare products. Their jars with screw neck tops come in a diverse size range – from 5ml to 500ml – while their flat shoulder bottles range from 20ml to 150ml.
These containers, made of amber and flint glass are standouts for their sustainable and innovative use of resources: their amber glass uses up to 73% recycled material, while flint glass uses up to 38% recycled material, all in a lightweight design. In the words of Stoelzle, “PharmaCos stands out with its focus on the Nutra- and Cosmeceutical sectors, where sustainability is of paramount importance”.
To top it off, Stoelzle’s glass flat shoulder containers come with perfectly matching caps and closures, made from vegan materials, aluminium, acrylic or wood to support brands’ recyclability or emission reduction goals. For the PharmaCos line, these include caps, cream or spray pumps, snap caps, flip tops, pipettes, and special child-resistant closures. The harmonious bottle-closure ensemble offers protection, precise dosage, and easy handling.
To support brands’ multifaceted needs, Stoelzle offers a one-stop solution, from the drawing board to the shelf. They offer a collaborative design, development, and decoration process, that results in unique products with a clear identity, even customised to suit brands’ individual design needs when it comes to their primary packaging.
Using less, for a world that offers more
Sustainability is central to Stoelzle’s actions, including promoting a circular economy through minimising waste, energy, and water use, increasing recycling rates, and using recycled materials in production. For their efforts, they were awarded the gold sustainability rating in 2022 by EcoVadis.
The glass manufacturing process itself relies heavily on recycled raw material: quartz sand, limestone for stability, soda ash to lower the melting point, and increasingly more recycled cullet. All the resources that go into producing glass are being continuously optimised by Stoelzle and by other manufacturers across the entire European glass manufacturing sector: from reducing energy and CO2 intensity, to increasing recycled content in their products. Making packaging more lightweight not only reduces the quantity of material necessary to produce bottles and jars, but also the carbon footprint required for transportation.
Stoelzle’s crystal clear standards
Stoelzle Pharma offers secure glass packaging solutions for pharmaceutical and healthcare products, with an eye for innovative solutions and high standards. The PharmaCos line containers are all manufactured in a pharmaceutical-grade environment, adhering to rigorous industry standards.
The European-driven manufacturing process includes thorough quality control in cutting-edge facilities and a process constantly pushing for better quality, more safety, and more thorough digitalisation across their seven production sites and three decoration sites.
Every industry has a role to play in the circular economy, and can benefit in turn from it, so long as their processes adapt to industries’ current needs in terms of sustainability. Stoelzle’s new PharmaCos line of recycled glass jars and bottles shape a clear path forward for the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industry: relying more on yesterday’s resources, creating attractive products for today’s needs, and contributing to a greener tomorrow.
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For over 200 years, Stoelzle has been producing high-end moulded glass containers for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, perfumery, and spirits. Founded in 1805 in Köflach, the producer merged with Oberdorf Glassworks in 1978 to become Stoelzle Oberglas AG. It was acquired by CAG Holding in 1987, owned by Dr. Cornelius A. Grupp, who has since then been the sole private owner of the Stoelzle glass plants.
The Stoelzle group now operates seven production sites and three decoration sites across Europe and North America, with almost 3,000 employees and revenues over 500 million euro.
