‘No resources’ to fund recycling scheme, leaving pharmacies footing the bill
An initiative to help community pharmacies recycle face masks, gloves, and empty medicine blister packs cannot currently be offered to them for free due to a lack of funding, C+D has learned.
TerraCycle – the organisation behind the recycling scheme – is selling a range of “Zero Waste Boxes”, which contractors can fill up with “hard-to-recycle” waste that is not usually collected by councils.
The company had initially launched a free medicine packet recycling programme in September 2020, which initially involved 200 independent pharmacies that were later removed from the programme in May 2021 when its three original sponsors decided to withdraw from it.
The scheme was later taken on by Superdrug, which started operating it across 195 of its pharmacies.
Read more: No extra funding for more pharmacies to join packaging recycling scheme
A TerraCycle spokesperson told C+D today (March 24) that Superdrug has now taken full ownership of that programme, meaning the recycling company is no longer involved with the multiple’s solution.
Superdrug confirmed to C+D today that they have partnered with recycling company Veolia “to enable the public to continue recycling empty medicine packs in-store”.
“TerraCycle would love to be able to offer a free recycling solution to pharmacies again in future, however without a sponsoring partner we do not have the resources to fund a national recycling programme,” the TerraCycle spokesperson added.
However, the organisation is open to working with brands or retailers that would help it to launch a free recycling programme in the future, the spokesperson said.
What does the cost of the boxes include?
Contractors can purchase an empty medicine blister pack “Zero Waste Box” from £91.50; a disposable gloves and face mask box from £139.15; and a box to recycle disposable face masks from £132.72.
The cost of the boxes covers: their shipment to participating pharmacies; a pre-paid shipping label for contractors to send them back to TerraCycle once full; and the recycling process, a spokesperson for the organisation explained.
Read more: ‘Why I wanted my pharmacy to sign up to an inhaler recycling pilot’
Once returned to TerraCycle, the waste can be reused to make raw material.
It gets “shredded, washed, and turned into an agglomerate or pellets”, which can be “melted down and moulded by manufacturers into new products such as outdoor furniture, planters and even playgrounds for schools”, TerraCycle explained in a statement yesterday.
Five pharmacies in the UK are already using these boxes, the organisation told C+D.
