The healthcare industry, which includes hospitals, pharmacies, and general practices, is a surprisingly highly polluting industry, producing a huge amount of waste per year.
Plastic is the most widely used material within pharmaceutical drug packaging, from blister packs to bottles, pre-filled syringes, and inhalers.
Indeed, according to figures from NHS England, every year, NHS providers produce approximately 156,000 tonnes of clinical waste, which is equivalent to over 400 loaded jumbo jets of waste. This high volume of waste has significant environmental consequences and we cannot ignore it.
Of the clinical waste, medicine blister packs are one of the most widely used, and play an essential role in the medical industry: all medicine has to be delivered in the most practical and efficient way for patients, and needs protective packaging to preserve its effectiveness through transport and storage, and to extend its safe and effective shelf-life.
Plastic is the most widely used material within pharmaceutical drug packaging, from blister packs to bottles, pre-filled syringes, and inhalers.
However, due to its complex composition which includes plastic (mostly PVC) and aluminium foil, empty medicine blister packs are not recycled today. This is because the recycled material is worth less than the recycling process costs, so it is not economically viable for local authorities to collect or recycle these via kerbside collections.
That is what we, at TerraCycle, are trying to address, as leaders in recycling, we are constantly striving to find new and innovative solutions for today’s complex waste challenges, such as medicine blister packs.
We have been recycling empty medicine blister packs in the UK for several years now, launching our first solutions in 2018 and since then, we have collected and recycled more than 75 million blister packs at hundreds of high-traffic locations around the UK.
TerraCycle’s advanced recycling solution firstly separates the plastic and aluminium parts of the medicine blister packs, which would otherwise be disposed of in general waste, into a recycled raw material that can then be used in the production of new durable, and useful products.
This includes the likes of nuts and bolts from the aluminium, and pipes and window frames from the plastic.
Through this, we aim to develop a growing and robust nationwide network of drop-off points over the coming months and years so people and organisations across the UK have somewhere to take empty medicine blister packs to be recycled.
We aim to reach national scale with all stakeholders from the medical industry taking part. This is why we recently launched TerraCycle BlisterBack as a UK solution for all players across the health industry - from hospitals to general practices and pharmacies - to join forces in the effort to fight against plastic waste and stop empty medicine blister packs from being incinerated or ending up in landfill.
Hospitals are uniquely placed to tackle this problem. Blister packs are an efficient way for them to dispense medication to patients, and most of the dispensed pills are already sorted through, dosed, and prepared at the dispensary, leading to a lot of blister packs being discarded in a single location.
Whilst hospitals might not choose to become public drop-off points like pharmacies and join the wider network of recycling points, they could use Empty Medicine Blister Packs Zero Waste Boxes within their facilities to recycle internally - from inside the wards, to the receptions and the dispensaries - where members of staff can drop off the empty medicine blister packs to be recycled, in a bid to help the environment.
We cannot ignore that patients are becoming more and more environmentally conscious and aware of the importance of preserving our planet
Should hospitals be interested in a partnership, they can of course contact TerraCycle to discuss the best solution to meet their needs.
We cannot ignore that patients are becoming more and more environmentally conscious and aware of the importance of preserving our planet. As such, they will be looking to hospitals and other medical organisations to show leadership in sustainability.
Those that adopt measures to minimise waste, recycle complex items such as blister packs and inhalers will end up ahead.
The benefits of carbon reduction are huge, and at TerraCycle, we have been measuring the positive impact that recycling has had on carbon reduction and evaluating the life-cycle assessment across different categories including Global Warming Potential (carbon emissions) and water use.
By putting circularity into their organisations and starting to recycle their clinical waste – starting for instance with the empty medicine blister packs – they will show that putting patients first doesn’t mean putting the planet second
Through this, we have seen that TerraCycle’s recycling models reduce the environmental impact of a product's end-of-life by a collective average of 74% compared to local municipal landfilling and by an average of 67% compared to waste to energy models.
As an example, disposing an item of beauty packaging via waste to energy will emit more carbon than simply disposing of it via landfill. However, using a TerraCycle recycling method results in a 70% reduction of carbon emissions compared to waste-to-energy and 55% reduction compared to municipal landfill models.
This is where a simple solution, such as TerraCycle BlisterBack, should be actioned now. Demand to recycle empty medicine blister packs in the UK is already high, with upcoming legislation only going in one direction: mandating the reduction of waste across all organisations and businesses.
Though the sector has benefited from exemptions in the past, hospitals as well as pharmacies, and general practitioners will not be exempt from this in the near future, as the government will look to crack down on the huge amount of waste generated by the industry at large. Stakeholders should come together and get ahead of the curve.
By putting circularity into their organisations and starting to recycle their clinical waste – starting for instance with the empty medicine blister packs – they will show that putting patients first doesn’t mean putting the planet second.
Julien Tremblin, General Manager for TerraCycle Europe
Photo credit: Both photos courtesy of Terracycle
