We No Longer Accept Blister Packs for Recycling

As of Term 4 2025, Burwood Neighbourhood House no longer accepts medicine blister packs. After speaking with Pharmacycle, the company involved, we have discovered that the practice of bringing a large bag into Chemist Warehouse undermines the intended economic purpose of the recycling initiative.

Pharmacycle sells the recycling boxes to Chemist Warehouse at $192.50 per box. Though this looks like a steep price for cardboard, it also covers each box’s shipping and operational costs. The justification Chemist Warehouse has for spending this money is the possibility to attract customers.

Take someone who lives 500m away from an Amcal, and 600m away from a Chemist Warehouse. Chemist Warehouse has a recycling box, while Amcal doesn't. That person is more likely to walk the extra 150m so that they can feel that they have responsibly discarded their medicine blister pack. In turn, they are more likely to buy products at Chemist Warehouse.

Now take someone who walks in with a large garbage bag of discarded blister packs, like an employee of a community centre or medical facility. When they dump a bag into the recycling box, it is filled to the brim, requiring Chemist Warehouse to purchase another. 

Additionally, if everybody were to leave their blister packs at facilities like ours, there would be nobody entering the pharmacy and potentially buying products. If Chemist Warehouse were to lose this value, they would have no reason to continue participating in the program.

Recycling initiatives can be quite fragile and have collapsed before, like how Victoria's 1980s Cash for Cans scheme collapsed in 1989, not returning until 2023. Even today, a Western Australian regional FOGO scheme is on the verge of ruin.

For this reason, to support the blister pack recycling initiative, Burwood Neighbourhood House will no longer accept medicine blister packs. Instead, we recommend that you collect them yourself in a grocery paper bag, and then bring them with you next time you are at Chemist Warehouse to fill a prescription or buy medicines. 

The Earth will thank you!

Note: We do still accept cans and plastic bottles. Read more about it here.