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An inhaler recycling pilot scheme involving 59 community pharmacies in East Kent has processed more than 20,000 inhalers returned for recycling since the scheme launched in November 2023.
The 12-month ‘Re-Hale’ scheme is a collaboration between NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) and pharmaceutical manufacturer Chiesi.
As well as community pharmacies, several dispensing GP practices and acute hospital pharmacies make up the 78 locations taking part in the scheme.
To date, the scheme’s leadership team say there have been 20,400 inhalers returned for recycling.
Around 73 million inhalers are prescribed in the UK annually, making up around 3% of total NHS UK carbon emissions.
Writing in a blog for The Pharmaceutical Journal on 29 July 2024, the pilot leaders say East Kent was chosen for the pilot scheme because it “has multiple healthcare settings identified, an existing logistical framework and no current ability to recycle inhalers”.
The pilot makes use of Alliance Healthcare’s existing transport services to collect the inhalers for recycling, so that no additional vehicle journeys are needed.
Jo Pay, sustainability lead at Paydens Group, whose pharmacies are taking part in the pilot, said the independent pharmacy chain was “very keen to get involved and support this new recycling scheme”.
“It has been welcomed by both our staff and patients. It’s simple to implement and easy for our pharmacy teams to remind customers to return old or unwanted inhalers when collecting their new prescription. We hope the scheme can expand, to include our branches outside of Kent,” she said.
Sarah Edwards, who uses the scheme, said: “Being able to use the Re-Hale scheme in my local pharmacy in the village makes it so convenient for me to recycle mine and my children’s used inhalers.
“I can just simply drop them off knowing I’m doing my bit to help the environment.”
Although NHS England set up a working group in 2019 to focus on cutting the effect that asthma inhalers can have on climate change, no national recycling scheme has been introduced.
However, several pilot schemes — which use processes that capture propellant hydrofluorocarbon gases and repurpose them for use in refrigeration — have been introduced but subsequently cancelled.
In July 2020, manufacturer GSK cancelled its ‘Complete the Cycle’ recycling programme, which launched in 2011. In July 2023, Chiesi announced it would not be renewing its ‘Take AIR’ (Action for Inhaler Recycling) pilot scheme in Leicestershire, which launched in 2021.
Meanwhile, Grundon Waste Management announced in September 2023 that it was launching the “first UK-wide” inhaler recycling service, which aimed to allow any healthcare organisation to recycle inhalers.
