Health and beauty retailer Boots has unveiled a blister pack recycling scheme in its stores across London and south-east England.
Initially available in 100 stores, the trial in partnership with waste management company MYGroup could be rolled out nationwide if successful.
Boots Advantage Card holders dropping off used blister packs in dedicated bins in stores will be rewarded with points for depositing the waste.
Blister packs, used for medicines and vitamins, are made from a mix of plastic and aluminium foil that cannot typically be recycled through household recycling services, which means most end up in landfill or are sent to incineration. Boots said 36 million tonnes of blister packs are produced globally each year.
MYGroup said it offers an end-to-end waste recovery process in the UK for blister packs, handling the material at its growing facility in Hull, where the different materials can be separated with special machinery. The plastic is recovered through a PVC recycling process, with the waste material returned to supply chains where possible or fed into production of the company’s own MYboard – a material similar in consistency to plywood, used widely for construction, joinery, shop and event fittings, as well as furniture for commercial and community settings, such as schools.
Meanwhile, the recovered aluminium will be sent to a local refinery for remanufacture into ingots. MYGroup’s blister pack recovery process also includes provision for accidental hazardous contamination from unused medicines that may be inadvertently deposited through the scheme, with the business saying it holds the appropriate environmental permits to process this waste and still achieve full recovery of materials.
The blister pack recycling initiative is an extension of the ‘Recycle at Boots’ beauty packaging take-back scheme already implemented in Boots stores across the UK. To date, the wider programme has seen over three million used products recycled by MYGroup.
MYGroup runs a similar blister pack recycling scheme with Tesco in partnership with consumer healthcare company, Kenvue, and also provides the service for GP surgeries, pharmacies, and vets.
Natalie Gourlay, head of ESG at Boots, said: “We want to help our customers make small sustainable switches that make a big difference.
“Our Recycle at Boots scheme is here for hard-to-recycle empties like toothpaste, mascara tubes, and wet wipes packaging. Now we have recycling points for your medicine and vitamin packs too.”
[Image credit: Green Retail World]
