GP calls on public to recycle empty tablet blister packs in special box scheme for GP surgeries and pharmacies
A York GP is pioneering a project across the city to help protect the environment, calling on people to recycle tablet blister packs.
Dr Rumina Önaç, working with Nimbuscare, has secured more than £11k from the Sheep Shed green award programme to reduce carbon emissions across York’s primary care health services by providing a recycling facility for tablet blister packs in local surgeries and pharmacies. The award is run by the Yorkshire and Humber Academic Health Science Network Ltd (YHAHSN) in conjunction with Humber and North Yorkshire Community Healthcare Partnerships (HNYCHP) to support carbon reduction initiatives within the Humber and North Yorkshire region.
Dr Önaç says it’s vital that healthcare teams contribute towards sustainability and consider the planetary impacts of the care they provide. Recycling boxes will be available in 20 local sites across the Vale of York, once the scheme is fully up and running in the next couple of months.
Dr Önaç explained: “This is truly a community project which will help change people’s mindsets, and we’re excited for healthcare staff and patients to get involved.
“My passion for sustainable healthcare was sparked a few years ago when I realised it was possible to provide high quality healthcare, whilst safeguarding NHS resources and our planet for future generations.”
She enrolled Old School Medical Practice, in Copmanthorpe, onto the ‘Green Impact for Health’ project in 2019, started a blog and helped deliver a Green Summit in 2022 to promote simple sustainability tips for healthcare professionals.
Dr Önaç, who is a GP at Old School Medical Practice in York, has been involved in a number of sustainability projects, from small to large, and has recently taken on the role of Sustainability Lead at Nimbuscare in York.
“Following the success of our smaller-scale changes, I’ve reached out to likeminded clinicians and set up a network of GP surgeries called 'Sustainable Practices York' which includes 19 practices across the Vale of York. Our actions are already having a positive impact across both primary and secondary care,” she explained.
This new project aims to capture the hearts and minds of our local public, as blister pack recycling is something that patients often ask about. It builds on the idea of the equipment amnesty which not only enabled healthcare equipment to be reused by someone in need, but also saved the NHS money.
The tablet blister packs, which everyone is familiar with, contribute to the NHS carbon footprint as they are made up of complex materials which are not easily recycled.
To put this into perspective, last year Atorvastatin - the most commonly issued tablet with 54 million items dispensed in 2021 – incurred a blister pack carbon footprint of 586,774 CEq; equivalent to 2.3 million domestic flights. And that’s just for one medication.
Some Superdrug pharmacies around the country offer a similar scheme, but the two York stores are not taking part, so until now the closest recycling point for York residents is 40 miles away. Added to this, the high cost of individual recycling boxes has proved a barrier to pharmacies and GP surgeries.
The Sheep Shed award will enable Nimbuscare to bulk buy the recycling box units from ReFactory. These will then be placed in various locations across the city. Once full, they will be collected by ReFactory and recycled into ‘storm boards’ which can be made into things like compost bins, play areas, office furniture and animal kennels etc.
Dr Önaç said: “We believe the boxes could house up to 6000 blister packs which equates to an approximate saving of 50kg carbon per full box, even after taking transport/collection emissions into account. This means potentially 400kg CEq per site over eight boxes. That’s equivalent to driving from York to southern Italy! This scheme will give our residents good access to recycling an everyday single-use-plastic, and we believe it will be very popular.”
The ultimate aim of the project is to encourage local businesses to continue backing the project so it can continue after the funding has ceased at the end of the year. Anyone interested in finding our more, can contact rumina.onac@nhs.net.