Paracetamol could be packaged in card....surely....?

[Bearnecessity]

Just so sick that we are not shifting away from plastic harder or faster...

The medical blister pack recycling that was run by terracycle for overwhelmed within weeks and is now closed unfortunately. Shows there is a demand anyway!

I would like to see supermarkets sort their shizz out. They've just banned plastic packaging for fresh produce in France.

You should read up on the Tylenol murders to know why food and medicine packaging is so robust now. A local food refill shop to me has a blister packet recycling box but it charges I think 30p-50p to cover the cost of the initiative.

Personally medicines are not something I would want to come out of plastic. I am happy to use plastic in limited circumstances.

There are a whole load of plastic products we could tackle first before this. Surely as a nation we get through more plastic milk bottles per day than paracetamol packets per month?

Milk bottles
Water bottles
Yogurt pots
Fruit/veg packaging

All much larger and used in higher numbers per day.

Good grief folks get quite aggro on here...we are allowed to have open discussion about something if a) we don't work in the industry or b) have concrete answer

Terracycle collect blister packs from Superdrug pharmacies. The scheme is incredibly popular and definitely still ongoing. I do agree that it should be introduced in more places though.

as mentioned by others, some Superdrugs, but not all unfortunately,
are recycling blister packs, find the nearest to you here, www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/medicine-packet-uk

[quote TowandaForever]@Bearnecessity Medicine blister packs can now be recycled.

A local organisation does it for charity where I live. Hopefully you can find an organisation who does it near you op. [/quote]
Terracycle collect all medication blister packs for recycling.

Some larger Superdrug stores have collection points.
www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/medicine-packet-uk

Sorry x x x posts whilst I was googling!

The packaging world is really quite interesting, Coated cardboard often can't be recycled.
Cucumbers without their plastic layer only last 3 days without their plastic wrap but up to 2 weeks with, and food waste is a far worse problem (in terms of carbon emissions) than plastic packaging. Pasta on the other hand can come in cardboard without a window (the brand Barilla do this) instead of the plastic bag, we all know what pasta looks like and just need a picture on the front to know what type we're buying.

Is there not some kind of corn starch that can be used for things like cucumber sleeves?

Agree completely with the suicide risk point. In my two (futile) attempts, I blacked out in the middle of getting the tablets out of the packets. With a bottle, I would have necked the lot. But I appreciate that this is a ‘niche’ issue, and that the environmental issues probably outweigh this risk to a small number of people on balance.

I have huge bottles of painkillers I bought in USA. 100s+ in a single bottle. These things are possible.

Rasko...💐

@Bearnecessity it's just a bit weird targeting a deig when you have no knowledge of why it should be packaged the way it is. It seems a bit weird to pluck paracetamol out if the air out of everything else possible.

We have family in the States, and they can't understand why we can only buy ibuprofen in blister packs of 16 here. In the USA they come in big pots of 500 tablets.

@cuttlefishgame because the US, U.K. Europe have different regulations.

@Bearnecessity but you don't have a concrete answer

[quote eeyore228]@Bearnecessity it's just a bit weird targeting a deig when you have no knowledge of why it should be packaged the way it is. It seems a bit weird to pluck paracetamol out if the air out of everything else possible.[/quote]
I am not targeting anyone....I am also not so stupid as to imagine that there aren't good reasons for packaging...it does not mean we can't think around problems...

We get through a lot of Piriton in this house - 3 family members with allergies - and years ago they used to sell it in little glass pots with 100 (I think) in them. I used to get them on prescription. When they introduced blister packs the price per tablet shot through the roof, and the quantity reduced drastically. Even buying the generic chemist own brand ones the price is ridiculous.

Not to mention the sheer waste of all that plastic.

Regular long term use of a NSAID such as ibuprofen or aspirin can lead to stomach/gastric issues. People wanting to buy larger packs receiving advice on taking the drug properly e.g. with food can reduce problems further down the line.

I guess if we want a health system like the US we could change some of our regulations.

@qualitygirl....nope...no concrete answers here...only desire and discussion.🙂

Is there not some kind of corn starch that can be used for things like cucumber sleeves

Corn startch is a good very short term replacement for plastic as it biodegrades, but of course, it biodegrades quickly rendering it entirely useless for medicines which we want to have a shelf life of months.

Thanks for the link about Superdrug, I have a load of blister packs waiting to go however there are none anywhere near me. I will just save them until I go visit my parents. We get through a fair lot, so be good to get them off somewhere.

No I didn't imagine it would be good for medicines...

I’m an NHS nurse and the amount of plastic waste is shocking, worse since Covid. I use a phenomenal number of plastic aprons, gloves, syringes, packets…

www.terracycle.com/en-GB/brigades/medicine-packet-uk

You can recycle medicine blister packs at most superdrug branches of you save them up