Following a regional pilot, Boots has rolled out a nationwide scheme to reward customers for recycling their empty blister packs, now available at over 800 stores across the UK.
The retailer says 170,000 customers signed up to a pilot of the scheme in London and the Southeast last year. All blister packs of any brand and whether previously used to hold medications or vitamins can be recycled through the scheme.
Apparently, Boots Advantage Card members nationwide can earn 100 points worth £1 for every five empty blister packs, when they drop them off at a participating store and spend £5 or more (when recycling a minimum of five empty blister packs through the Boots Scan2recycle app).
The new blister pack recycling scheme is part of the wider Recycle at Boots initiative, which is delivered using technology partner Metrisk and recycling partner MYGroup. The initiative is ‘brand agnostic’, meaning customers can recycle empty blister packs and other hard to recycle empties from any brand and track their recycling, as long as they have a Boots Advantage Card.
According to Boots, to recycle blister packs and access rewards customers need to register and opt in by downloading the Recycle at Boots app; log empty blister packs in the app and wait for up to 24 hours until they are validated; and then bring their empty packs into a participating Boots store and scan the QR code on the blister pack deposit box.
After the blister packs or health and beauty empties have been dropped off at Boots stores they are sent to MYGroup, who separate the plastic and the foil. Reportedly, the recycled foil can be immediately re-used while MYGroup turn the recycled plastic into a material called MYBoardTM, which has multiple uses including playground equipment, furniture and construction materials.
Customers can find their latest Blister Pack Recycling store through the Boots Store Locator.
Last year Liveo Research and Bayer developed a ‘first-of-its-kind’ PET blister pack for its over-the-counter Aleve drug brand. The pack is reported to have a 38% reduction in carbon footprint through its elimination of PVC.
A few months later, Liveo Research announced its One-Material Blister (OMB) PET tray had been certified as recyclable by Petcore Europe’s Tray Circularity Evaluation Platform. The tray is designed to minimize the pack’s complexity and improve recyclability, since the two components do not need to be separated before the pack is recycled.
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