Commonly used for over-the-counter medication and supplements, blister packs are notoriously difficult to recycle. You can’t put them in your recycling bin, and it can become frustrating not knowing how to dispose of them properly.
Meet Piers Nicholson, a 90-year-old resident in a village near Salisbury. Over a year ago, Piers set up SPuRT (Social Blister Pack Recycling Team), a community-led recycling scheme for residents utilising MYGroup’s recycling boxes.
The initiative begun because Piers was struggling to dispose of his blister pack waste. While there used to be someone in his village who collected the community’s blister packs to drop off in stores, this had to stop once it was no longer available.
With blister packs piling up and nowhere to dispose them, Piers asked his community for advice and, while he didn’t find an answer right there and then, he was surprised by how many agreed with him.
Alongside his longtime friend Anthony Warley, Piers discovered MYGroup.
What started as a trial run, purchasing a couple of boxes and setting up a community collection day, led to a wider initiative around the Salisbury area, with local groups and churches getting involved.
An initial charge was put in place of £1 per 50 blister packs to sustain the initiative and be able to continue to purchase the MYGroup recycling boxes.
Piers and Antony expanded the initiative to Salisbury market place where, in just 3 hours on 9th March, they collected over 9000 blister packs from the local community. MYGroup’s support has meant that the charge has subsequently been lowered to £1 per 100 blister packs.
The days in the Salisbury market square bring much joy to Piers and his team, who get to meet and chat to people with a common interest, with some of them even travelling to Salisbury to be able to donate their blister packs to the team.
SPuRT is also working with local GP surgeries, church groups and other village communities to expand the initiative past Salisbury, with initial discussions happening country wide, such as in Brixham and Girton. The SPuRT team are providing financial and practical support to those who wish to set up local groups like theirs.
Thanks to MYGroup, Piers and his community have discovered a sustainable way to dispose of blister packs while bringing people together with a common goal and interest.
We hosted Piers and Anthony back in February at our Hull facility, giving them a tour of our Board Mill and warehouse and showing them each stage of our recycling process.
We’re so delighted with what MYGroup do for the recycling community and how they’ve supported our blister pack initiative.Piers Nicholson
We’re proud to work with local community groups and councils on blister pack recycling schemes. For more information, get in touch: recycle@mygroupltd.com
