Knowing what can and can’t be recycled can sometimes feel a bit of a minefield – and if the questions we get asked on social media are anything to go by, medicine packaging is one of the areas that causes most confusion!
Medical supplies can be dangerous – all it takes is a needle poking out of a bin liner and the health of a collection crew member could be jeopardised. While there are a few bits of packaging that you can happily recycle from home, there are some things you can easily recycle or safely dispose of via take-back schemes. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about recycling medicines – including those pesky blister packs.
How to recycle medicine packaging from home
The good news is that there are a number of medicine packaging components that you can recycle at home. These include the cardboard boxes your pills came in, and the paper instruction leaflet that came with them.
If your pills or vitamins came in a hard plastic tube, bottle or pot, these can go in your plastic recycling once it’s empty, while glass medicine or pill bottles just need a quick rinse out and then they can join your glass recycling from home.
Blister packs unfortunately can’t go in your home recycling collection, but they can still be recycled. They’re made up of plastic and other materials, and plastic packaging in the UK accounts for nearly 70% of our plastic waste, so it’s worth doing! Superdrug Pharmacies offer a route for recycling, such as this blister pack take-back scheme.
If you don’t have a Superdrug nearby, it’s worth checking with your local pharmacy, such as Lloyds, or your nearest hospital to see if they provide a take-back recycling service.
How to dispose of medical supplies safely
There are a few medical things that aren’t currently recyclable, but will still need to be disposed of correctly.
If you have any unopened, unused and out-of-date medicines, take them back to your local pharmacy and they’ll dispose of them for you.
Medical tests and PPE, such as COVID-19 lateral flow tests or insulin test patches, face masks and gloves, can’t be recycled and could be harmful to others, so they should go in your general rubbish bin.
To dispose of needles safely, you’ll need a sharps bin. You can get these on a prescription from your local GP or pharmacist, and it can be collected by your local council when it’s full. There’s lots of useful information about this from the NHS.
If you use an inhaler, these can’t be recycled but also shouldn’t go in your general rubbish, as the gases they contain are harmful to the environment. Instead, take them back to your local pharmacy and they’ll dispose of them for you.
You’ll need to return faulty hearing aids to the supplier rather than putting them in the recycling or rubbish. You may also find that your local GP surgery has a collection point, as do many hospital audiology departments, private hearing specialists and charity shops such as Age Concern and Help the Aged.
And finally, if you have walking aids you no longer use, such as walking sticks or crutches, you can make use of dedicated NHS drop-off points that ensure they can be cleaned and used again by someone else who needs them. Check out our Recycling Locator for your nearest drop-off point and have a read of our article on five reasons of why it’s worth doing!
