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Some composite items may be difficult to recycle, and that includes medication blister packs.
TerraCycle is a recycling company that has developed a scheme to recycle blister packs in the UK. It was sponsored by Sanofi to handle patient returns and donate some proceeds to charities. Many pharmacies joined in and the scheme became overloaded, leading to its current suspension (see The Pharmaceutical Journal’s news story, ‘Medicines packet recycling scheme scaled back following ‘high uptake”, published on 8 July 2021).
It seems to me that TerraCycle should be encouraged to renew the scheme. Pharmacies should be actively contributing and manufacturers should sponsor the scheme to reduce waste and support our environment.
I encourage colleagues to use any influence they have to promote recycling and to sign this petition, which asks companies to get involved in the funding of medicine packet recycling schemes.
David Scott
