We No Longer Accept Blister Packs for Recycling

As of Term 4 2025, Burwood Neighbourhood House no longer accepts medicine blister packs. After discussions with Pharmacycle, the company that recycles these blister packs, we have realised that the practice of bringing in a large garbage bag of discarded blister packs into Chemist Warehouse undermines the intended economic incentives for which this recycling initiative was designed.

This may seem counterintuitive, but a good way to understand why is to take the point view of a Chemist Warehouse franchisee. Pharmacycle sells the recycling boxes to Chemist Warehouse at $192.50 per box. The reason a mere cardboard box costs so much is because it has been calculated to cover shipping back to the plant as well as recycling costs. To the franchisee, the justification for this seemingly outrageous outlay (for a glorified cardboard box) is that the very presence of this particular box attracts customers, and thus increases sales.

How? Imagine for a moment someone who has an Amcal 500m East of their house, and a Chemist Warehouse 650m West. Chemist Warehouse has The Box, Amcal doesn't. That person is likely to walk the extra 150m so that they can feel that they have responsibly discarded their medicine blister pack. In a way, to the Chemist Warehouse franchisee, The Box is effectively a 'honey pot' for customers.

Now imagine someone who walks into Chemist Warehouse with a large garbage bag of discarded blister packs. This would likely be someone from a community centre, an aged care centre or a medical facility. They dump the blister packs into The Box, filling it to the brim, and then walk out without buying anything. So much for the honey pot. To the franchisee, in this instance the added economic value of this $192.50 box is sweet nothing.

And what if more people, or everybody did this? Seeing no value in them, the franchisee would cease purchasing boxes, and the initiative would simply collapse. Recycling initiatives can be quite fragile and have collapsed before, Victoria's 1980s Cash for Cans scheme collapsed in 1989 (it did not return until 2023), while a Western Australian regional FOGO scheme is collapsing as we speak.

For this reason, to support the blister pack recycling initiative, Burwood Neighbourhood House no longer accepts medicine blister packs for us to pass on to the Chemist Warehouse around the corner in a large garbage bag. 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. In fact, even if you didn’t need anything from Chemist Warehouse, find an excuse, buy a Mars Bar there or something.

The Earth will thank you!

Note: We do however accept cans and plastic bottles, read more about it here.