MYGroup is expanding its blister pack recycling scheme run in collaboration with health and beauty retailer, Boots, UK-wide to over 800 of the chain’s stores.
The move follows 170,000 Boots customers signing up for the scheme’s pilot run in 100 stores in London and the South East England from February last year.
The blister pack scheme is part of Boots’ wider ‘Recycle at Boots’ programme run in collaboration with MYGroup. Shoppers can deposit used blister packs together with empty health and beauty products in specially designed collection boxes in store. MYGroup has collected and processed over seven tons of blister packs deposited since the pilot first launched.
Customers are incentivised through the awarding of Boots Advantage Card loyalty points in exchange for the used blister packs and other products they deposit in-store. This is facilitated by technology partner, Metrisk, using a dedicated Recycle at Boots mobile application.
Find out more about the blister pack recycling scheme in a Boots video here.
Globally, over 36 million tons of blister packs are produced each year, with the NHS alone using approximately 150 million packs annually. While convenient for the administration and integrity of medicines and vitamins, blister packs incorporate mixed materials, mainly aluminium foil and plastic. This complicates recycling efforts, meaning blister packs are not typically accepted through household kerbside collections and end up in landfill or incineration.
Recognising the significant unmet recycling need for waste blister packs, MYGroup has installed a dedicated, specialised machinery line for blister pack material at its Hull recycling facility.
All on the same site, the mixed pack materials are separated and recovered, with aluminium sent to a local refinery for remanufacture into ingots, while plastic goes through both a PVC recycling process for recovery back to supply chains, as well as into the production of the company’s own MYboard™. MYBoard is 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.
Unique to MYGroup’s blister pack recovery process is the provision for accidental hazardous contamination from unused medicines that may be inadvertently left in packs, with the company holding the appropriate environmental permits to process such waste and still achieve full recovery of materials. Medical residue is recovered into bio-fuel.
MYGroup runs a similar in-store collection scheme at Tesco, in partnership with consumer healthcare company, Kenvue, and also provides specialist blister pack recycling programmes for GP surgeries, pharmacies and veterinary practices.
MYGroup offers the only true end-to-end waste recovery process in the UK for blister packs with the convenience of in-store deposit. I’m proud to see our scheme with Boots roll out across the UK. The significant shopper uptake and number of items recycled so far cements our position as the UK’s health, beauty and cosmetics waste management expert.
Steve Carrie, Group Director, MYGroup
Taking medicines or vitamins in blister pack packaging is an essential part of everyday life for many of us – even more so during the winter when it is peak cough cold season. We know from our pilot scheme that people want a recycling solution for their empty blister packs, which is why we’re now making it available in towns and cities across the country. We look forward to seeing the recycled materials take on a new life as playground equipment and furniture.’
Candice Smith, Head of ESG at Boots
