Chemist Warehouse offers recycling solution for blister packs

Millions of medication blister packs could be diverted from landfill through a recycling program rolled out at two popular pharmacies.

Australians can drop off the empty packaging at all Chemist Warehouse and My Chemist pharmacies across the country in designated recycling bins near the dispensary section.

An estimated 4.4 million blister packs were collected, totalling 6620 kilograms of waste, which was recycled and repurposed to create outdoor decking and fencing.

The recycling initiative is carried out by Pharmacycle, a blister pack recycling program in Australia that provides an end-to-end recycling solution.

Once collected from the pharmacy, blister packs are transported to one of Pharmacycle’s processing facilities, where the packaging requires specialised machinery to separate the materials before they can be recycled.

The aluminium is then sent to Weston Aluminium in the Hunter Valley in NSW, which reprocesses it to produce an aluminium de-oxidant product that aids in the steel making process.

The plastic component is sent to Victoria, before it is used to make products such as PVC decking and fencing.