Putting a green spotlight on health
At Boehringer Ingelheim, we’re committed to caring for our environment. While our medicines transform the lives of people living with respiratory conditions, we are also mindful of the environmental impact of disposable inhaler devices. That's why we developed a new-generation inhaler that is reusable, propellant-free, and manufactured in a carbon-neutral plant. By innovating to improve the sustainability of an inhaler used by tens of thousands of Australians living with respiratory diseases, we are making a tangible contribution towards building a more sustainable future.
Both people and the environment deserve to breathe freely
Medicines delivered with inhalers are critical for improving the health of people living with respiratory conditions including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
However, because commonly used inhalers are disposable, made from single-use plastics, and often contain environmentally harmful greenhouse gases, they pose environmental sustainability challenges. These problems are exacerbated by scale when these inhalers are used daily by hundreds of thousands of Australians with respiratory conditions each year.
‘Like switching from a petrol car to a hybrid’
Pressurised metered-dose inhalers (pMDIs) are commonly prescribed to millions of patients in Australia. They work by using a pressurised propellant to atomise a medicine into microscopic droplets that the patient can breathe into their lungs.
The challenge is the propellant is typically a hydrofluorocarbon (HCF) which are ‘potent greenhouse gases, with an effect thousands of times greater than the equivalent volume of carbon dioxide’ 2.
To address this, Boehringer Ingelheim designed the new-generation Respimat® to be re-usable as well as propellant free, meaning its C02 emissions are 20 times lower than commonly used pMDIs.1 To put this into perspective, the reduction in carbon footprint over a year is similar to switching from a petrol car to a hybrid2. By 2025, it is expected that globally, 14,300 tons of C02 emissions will be prevented as a result of Respimat ® re-usable.
Saving over a million inhalers from reaching landfill
Typical non-reusable inhaler devices are used for up to one month before being completely thrown out. That’s equal to 12 devices discarded per year per person living with chronic respiratory disease.
Considering there are hundreds of thousands of Australians living conditions like asthma and COPD, this means millions of plastic inhaler devices are routinely discarded, with most ending up in landfill.
As respiratory physician Associate Professor Lucy Morgan put it, ‘there are hundreds of thousands of COPD and asthma patients across Australia, so we’re routinely discarding millions of plastic inhalers, most often to landfill.’
The new-generation Respimat® inhalers are designed and manufactured (in a carbon-neutral facility) to be used for up to six months before disposal; as opposed to single month alternatives.
This reduces the number of inhalers a patient needs to throw away each year from 12 to just 23. In Australia alone, where more than 170,000 people use Respimat® devices, this could save 1.7 million inhalers from reaching landfill. Globally, 776 tons of plastic waste will be prevented; equivalent to 77.6 million 0.5 litre plastic soft drink bottles.
References:
1. Hänsel, M; Bambauch, T & Wachtel, H 2019 ‘Reduced Environmental Impact of the Reusable Respimat® Soft Mist™ Inhaler Compared with Pressurised Metered-Dose Inhalers’. Advances in Therapy, vol. 36, accessed 14 August 2023, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12325-019-01028-y
2. Montgomery, BD & Blakley, JD 2022,‘Respiratory inhalers and the environment’. Australian Journal of General Practice, vol. 51(12) accessed 14 August 2023, https://www1.racgp.org.au/ajgp/2022/december/respiratory-inhalers-and-the-environment
3. Jansen, C et al. 2023 ‘Reducing carbon footprint by switching to reusable soft-mist inhalers’, ERJ Open Research, vol. 9(3) accessed 14 August 2023 https://openres.ersjournals.com/content/9/3/00543-2022