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NHS England is assessing the possibility of rolling out a national inhaler recycling scheme, according to health minister Karin Smyth.
In response to written questions submitted by Ellie Chowns, Green Party MP for North Herefordshire, which included what steps the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is taking to reduce the environmental impact of inhalers and other medicines, Smyth said NHS England was “currently supporting the implementation of an inhaler recycling pilot to assess a national scheme’s feasibility and potential benefits”, referring to the South East London Integrated Care Board’s inhaler recycling scheme.
Smyth added that NHS England was “committed to exploring inhaler recycling and its potential benefits”.
A spokesperson for the NHS confirmed to The Pharmaceutical Journal: “As of 2025, there are a small number of local inhaler recycling schemes live across England — NHS England has supported the schemes and will use any learning to inform future policy.”
The comments come after NHS England said in August 2021 that it had no plans to introduce a national inhaler recycling scheme, despite aims to reduce the NHS’s carbon footprint to net zero by 2040.
Some pilot schemes have been introduced in recent years, but several were subsequently cancelled.
In July 2020, manufacturer GSK cancelled its ‘Complete the cycle’ recycling programme, which launched in 2011. Meanwhile, a two-year pilot by manufacturer Chiesi in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland area — which resulted in more than 52,000 inhalers being recycled — was also discontinued in March 2023.
In July 2023, Chiesi announced that it would not be renewing its ‘Take AIR’ (Action for Inhaler Recycling) pilot scheme in Leicestershire, which launched in 2021.
However, other schemes have opened, including the “first UK-wide” inhaler recycling service run by Grundon Waste Management, which announced in September 2023 that it would allow any healthcare organisation to recycle inhalers.
In August 2024, a pilot in NHS Lothian resulted in a 300% increase in the number of inhalers being returned to community pharmacies for sustainable disposal. This was achieved by the addition of stickers to dispensing bags, to encourage patients to return inhalers to the pharmacy, as well as public-facing guidance.
Elen Jones, acting director for England and director for Wales at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS), welcomed NHS England’s commitment to exploring inhaler by assessing the possibility of a national scheme.
“Pharmacists are already playing a key role in supporting greener prescribing by addressing overprescribing, improving patient’s inhaler technique and ensuring patients are on the most appropriate treatments,” she said.
“Pharmacists also support patients in switching to lower-carbon inhalers where clinically appropriate and encourage responsible inhaler disposal.”
Jones added that the RPS Greener Pharmacy Toolkit “will support pharmacy teams in embedding sustainable practices, including correct inhaler use and disposal”.
“However, a consistent, national approach to inhaler recycling would ensure all patients have access to proper disposal options, reducing environmental impact and supporting the NHS net-zero goals,” she said.
Minna Eii, advanced pharmacist practitioner at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust and co-founder of sustainability campaigning group ‘Pharmacy Declares’, said: “It’s with great delight to learn that our MPs are well aware of the NHS net-zero agenda and supports the call of the public and clinicians of a national inhaler recycling scheme.
“Pharmacy Declares support the new Royal College of GPs’ greener prescribing guidance that asks for a review of ‘business as usual’ in favour of improving efficiencies and cost effectiveness in the NHS as prioritised by the current government. Sustainable pharmacy use is the new medicines optimisation.”
Approximately 73 million inhalers are prescribed in the UK annually, constituting around 3% of total NHS UK carbon emissions.
