The Carbon Cost of Plastic Pill Bottles in Healthcare

According to the IQVIA Institute, 7.1 billion prescriptions were dispensed across retail, mail, and long-term care last year. Nearly all of them come in plastic bottles, and most of those bottles are not recycled, ending up in the landfill.

Until recently, this was a problem with no solution. Healthcare systems, telemedicine brands, and independent pharmacies that wanted an alternative to the plastic bottle didn't have one.  Tully Tube, the first paper prescription bottle to meet regulatory requirements and work within existing pharmacy workflows, changed that.

Pharmaceutical Packaging In Healthcare Sustainability

Sustainability has become the number-one priority across the packaging value chain. EPR regulations are tightening and ESG reporting requirements are becoming more demanding. Pharmaceutical packaging is becoming a key area where healthcare providers and health systems can improve sustainability across healthcare.

A single health system dispenses hundreds of thousands of prescriptions annually, the packaging behind those prescriptions adds up fast. A 2026 report Advancing prescription pill bottle recovery in the U.S. highlighted that over 61,000 tons of consumer-facing bottles and caps are estimated discarded annually in the U.S., which illustrates the sheer physical scale of the waste associated with these 7+ billion units.
The pharmaceutical market is only getting bigger. Total prescription medicine use in the U.S. reached 210 billion days of therapy in 2025, and net medicine spending is projected to grow 4.5 to 7.5% annually through 2030, according to IQVIA's U.S. Medicine Use Trends 2026 report. That growth means more prescriptions, more bottles, and more packaging waste to account for. 

The other reason packaging escapes scrutiny is that the current system works operationally. Plastic pill bottles are lightweight, durable, child-resistant, and automation-compatible. There has been no functional reason to replace them. But as health systems are setting internal plastics reduction commitments, patients and consumers are raising expectations around sustainability and brand experience, and organizations are voluntarily reporting Scope 3 emissions as part of broader ESG goals. Packaging is now part of that scrutiny.

The Packaging Gap in Health Systems 

Scope 3 emissions cover the indirect emissions across an organization's value chain. They are categorized into 15 areas, split between upstream emissions, which relate to materials and services a company purchases to operate, and downstream emissions, which occur after a product leaves the company's control. For health systems, that includes the materials that go into every prescription their pharmacy dispenses.

Plastic prescription bottles highlight a significant gap between technical recyclability and real-world waste management. Most standard pill bottles are made from high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polypropylene. While both are technically recyclable, real-world recycling rates for small plastic containers remain extremely low because most municipal recycling programs don't accept them. The City of Falmouth, MA explicitly provides guidance that items smaller than 2x2 inches will fall through the cracks and will not be recovered.As health systems deepen their ESG commitments and set voluntary Scope 3 targets, procurement teams are being asked to justify their supply chain decisions. Packaging emissions that previously went unexamined now factor into those conversations.

The Problem With Plastic Pill Bottles

Most prescription bottles are manufactured from virgin plastic, a process that requires fossil fuel extraction, energy-intensive production, and transportation before the packaging ever reaches a patient. When new pill bottles are manufactured, virgin plastic must be produced to replace them, perpetuating this cycle of resource consumption and carbon emissions. Reducing reliance on single-use plastic packaging can therefore help lower the environmental footprint associated with pharmaceutical packaging across its lifecycle.

As more healthcare systems and companies in the healthcare supply chains voluntarily report on Scope 3 emissions, prescription packaging is emerging as a previously unaccounted contributor to health system emissions. Boston Medical Center and Takeda launched a first-of-its-kind collaboration in 2025 to audit exactly these kinds of supply chain emissions hotspots, operating on the premise that supply chain emissions account for approximately 80% of healthcare's total carbon footprint. Packaging material type was identified as one of the three key drivers of emissions reduction opportunity in their year-one findings.

A Sustainable Alternative with Paper

Paper is the most practical alternative to plastic prescription packaging. It's durable, widely recyclable, and meets the safety standards required for pharmaceutical use. Tully Tube is the world's first paper prescription pill bottle, built to address the specific lifecycle problem that plastic creates. Its paper base is sourced from FSC-certified forests, meaning the wood used is responsibly managed and replanted. Paper has a known, auditable carbon profile, is recyclable through standard curbside programs, and carries 30% lower carbon emissions than a standard plastic bottle.

Tully Tubes are also designed to meet pharmacy-grade safety and performance standards. It is child-resistant, compatible with automated dispensing systems, and carries the same labeling and moisture protection requirements as a standard plastic bottle. Health systems, telemedicine providers, and retail pharmacies can adopt it without changing their workflows or compromising patient safety.

The Industry Move

Health systems including UPMC, Wellstar, Dartmouth Health, and Karmanos Cancer Center have made the transition to the Tully Tube replacing plastic pill bottles to paper ones. These are large, complex systems that have evaluated the operational, safety, and sustainability case and moved forward.

Carbon emissions from pharmaceutical packaging accumulate across the supply chain. The longer health systems delay acting on packaging, the larger that footprint grows.

If your health system is ready to make the transition, we'd love to help you get started. Contact us to explore custom bottle options for your pharmacy.

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