After a successful trial across 100 Chemist Warehouse pharmacies in Victoria last year, Chemist Warehouse and Pharmacycle have teamed up with Codral® to roll out a national recycling program for blister packs around the country.   

Drop-off locations will be located in all Chemist Warehouse and My Chemist pharmacies nationwide with Australians able to return their empty blister packs (the packaging that pills and tablets come in) to the designated Pharmacycle recycling bins in-store across the country.  

“…This collaboration aligns perfectly with our commitment to providing accessible, sustainable recycling solutions that ensure blister packs are repurposed into valuable products. By keeping all processing local, we’re proud to support Australian jobs and contribute to a more circular economy,” Jason Rijnbeek, Business Development Manager at Pharmacycle, said in a press release.   

Since the program’s pilot run, participating pharmacies have collected over 4.4 million blister packs. In total, that represents about 6,620 kilograms of blister pack waste that has been recycled rather than going to landfill.  

After collection, the blister packs are sent to Pharmacycle’s facilities, where specialised recycling equipment separates the materials. The aluminium is then reprocessed and sent to a steel mill in New South Wales, while the plastic is sent to a company in Victoria that turns it into outdoor decking and fencing.  

Recycling is especially important for preserving aluminium because it’s a finite natural resource that is extracted in an energy-intensive process. The good thing is it can be recycled infinitely without losing quality, making recycling essential for conserving this valuable material.  

Blister packs cannot be recycled at home through your council’s kerbside recycling service as the aluminium and plastic materials requires specialised machinery to separate the materials before they can be recycled. 

The next time you’re at Chemist Warehouse or My Chemist, remember to bring along your empty blister packs and drop them off in the designated recycling bins. This simple act ensures the recovered materials can be turned into raw materials to create new products and support a circular economy.   

Planet Ark does not take responsibility for the accuracy of the original information and encourages readers to check the references before using this information for their own purposes.