A giant inhaler was placed in Victoria Station, London to launch the scheme
73 million inhalers are used in the UK every year and over 63% are placed in domestic bins after use. While most local authorities can recycle certain plastics, some inhaler components contain plastics which are not readily recycled in council schemes.
Consequently most respiratory inhalers are disposed of in landfill, which is harmful to the environment - not just in material waste but also in greenhouse gas emissions should the gas canisters become pierced or crushed and the propellant released.
If every inhaler-user in the UK returned all their inhalers for one year, this would save 512,330 tonnes of CO2eq - this saving would allow a VW 1.4TSI Golf car to be driven around the world 88,606 times.
Complete the Cycle is now available in over 1,300 pharmacies within three miles of almost 75% of the UK population. This innovative service, supported by Recycle Now (part of WRAP (Waste & Resource Action Programme), the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and National Pharmacy Association, runs in partnership with pharmacies across the UK, and allows for inhalers to be safely and responsibly recycled by simply returning them to a participating pharmacy when picking up a repeat prescription.
“We’ve been pleased to add our support to this new initiative from GSK which will help people recycle their discarded inhalers,” said Laura Underwood from Recycle Now. We welcome schemes like this that enable more people to recycle more things, and we’re adding the details of the initiative to our www.recyclenow.com website to help make them available to as wide an audience as possible.”
Dr Mark Starr from the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare explains, “This first of its kind scheme is an easy and convenient way for people to breathe new life into their old inhalers. It is beneficial both to the environment and to people with long-term respiratory conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The scheme is also an innovative move towards a more environmentally sustainable approach to treating respiratory disease.”
As well as preventing carbon dioxide emissions, the scheme can help people to get the best out of their medicines. A GSK pilot scheme showed that 29% of inhalers returned were not empty,providing opportunities for pharmacists to help patients improve how they use their inhaler, manage their condition and help reduce medicine wastage. Currently 66% of respiratory patients visit their pharmacy at least every two months with repeat prescriptions2. The scheme will help encourage patients to interact with their healthcare professional beyond their once or twice-yearly review consultation – which could help to improve the management of their condition.
Participating pharmacies will have a box behind their counter where inhalers can be deposited. Through the Complete the Cycle scheme most of the inhaler materials are recycled - any waste which cannot be recycled, can be ‘recovered’ (converted into electricity or heat using the ‘waste to energy’ process whereby energy is created through the incineration of waste). Through this scheme, GSK will recycle or recover every respiratory inhaler collected by participating pharmacies, including those manufactured by other companies.
Participating pharmacies can be found by visiting http://www.gsk.com/uk/consumers/complete-the-cycle.html.