Thank goodness for custom packaging.
As you begin your weekend at your parents’ house, you have tasked yourself with taking inventory and cleaning out the cupboards in their bathroom. Although the initial look through the space did not seem all that difficult, you are now finding that there are many issues that you had not anticipated. With a box of half empty pill bottles, you began the difficult task of trying to figure out what is going on. The initial discussion with both your mother and father did not really get you anywhere, so you have made the decision to make an appointment with the local small town pharmacist.
With the custom packaging as a starting point, you have divided these half filled bottles into tow piles, one for your father and one for your mother. After that first division, you arranged the custom plastic bottles and other pills and drops by the dates that were marked on the specialty packaging. It would seem that not only did your parents keep all of their unfinished medications over the last five years, they also kept the custom packaging as well. It is a lot to sort through, but these boxes and envelopes can help you identify which doctor prescribed what and the initial date of each medication. Your best guess is that you will simply find out from the pharmacist how to safely dispose of all of these unused medications, but you want to make sure that you cover all of your bases.
Could, for instance, the fact that some of these prescriptions were not taken until completion be the reason that your mother seems to continue to struggle with her blood pressure? Does the fact that there are so many of these unfinished medications help you finally convince your other siblings that it is time to have a visiting nurse come to the house to make sure that all future medications are taken correctly?
It may be a long an difficult process, but you think that it will ultimately lead to better care for your parents.
Custom Packaging and Plastic Injection Molding Solutions Serve a Number of Important Purposes
We live in a world that is full of stuff. From the unused spices in our kitchen cabinets to the nearly completed medications in our bathroom cupboards, out homes are full. And while some things are difficult to identify, we are fortunate that much of what we have filling our shelves and drawers may still be in a labeled package that can help us with identification.
Although the plastics industry is sometimes under attack for some of its practices, the package solutions that many companies, both food and pharmaceutical, are using make our lives much easier. From preventing food and drink spoilage to keeping medical supplies sterile, the custom packaging industry provides a wide range of services. Consider some of these facts and figures about the use of custom packaging options in America:
- The U.S. alone holds some 40% of the global pharmaceutical market.
- 52% of people around the world make decisions about purchases partially based on packaging that shows a brand making a positive environmental and social impact.
- 1.02 billion pounds of rigid plastics, including rigid containers, were recycled in the year 2012. This percentage represents a number that is triple the amount of rigid plastic recycling from the year 2007.
- Wholesale packaging companies provide materials that improve accuracy and prevent waste. For instance, packaging experts estimate that each pound of plastic packaging can reduce food waste by as much as 1.7 pounds.
- Medical packaging that includes dosage cups can help prevent the inaccuracies that often happen when taking liquid medications. For instance, a Cornell University study found that subjects poured out an average of 8% too little or 12% too much medication without a dosage cup.
- The flexible packaging global market is forecast to grow at an annual average rate of 3.4% during the years between 2015 and 2020. At the end of this five year period it could reach a total $248 billion.
The adage that you cannot judge a book by its cover does not always apply to the plastic packages that identify the unused medications that you may find in your parents’ cluttered cupboards.
