Blister packs and sachets for medication are not collected for recycling by most local authorities. The fact that they are lightweight and often multi-material, with materials often connected in laminated layers, make them incompatible with most existing recycling infrastructure. With this in mind – and building on the success of similar schemes for products from pet food pouches to Pringles tubes – TerraCycle has partnered with Sanofi UK Consumer Healthcare, which manufactures brands like Buscopan and Dulcolax, to launch a UK-wide take-back scheme for medicine packaging. The partnership is aiming to get 400 pharmacies to launch drop-off points within the first year of the scheme. Once drop-off points are full, their contents get collected by one of TerraCycle’s logistics partners and taken to one of its recycling facilities. Material is then processed ready to make new products like outdoor furniture. Packaging from any brand will be accepted.

TerraCycle has partnered with biopharmaceutical company Sanofi, the maker of Buscopan and Dulcolax, to launch a new initiative that allows consumers to recycle their empty medicine blister packs. The ‘Little Packs, Big Impact’ initiative allows consumers in the UK to recycle any empty prescription and over-the-counter medicine blister packets for free by dropping them in dedicated bins when they visit a local participating pharmacy.

Brits can now recycle their empty medicine blister packets by dropping them off at pharmacies participating in the latest initiative from recycling specialist Terracycle