Skip to main content
  • About us
  • Events
  • News
  • Contact us
  • English
  • Cymraeg

Search form

Main menu

  • Home
  • What to do with...
    • Popular items
    • All items
  • Local recycling
    • About our Recycling Locator
  • Recycling know-how
    • How is it recycled?
    • Things you didn't know you can recycle
    • Why should we recycle?
    • Start Recycling
    • How food waste is turned into energy
    • Packaging Symbols explained
    • Where does my recycling go?
  • My council

What to do with

MEDICINE

Medicines

Unopened, unused and out-of-date medicines can be returned to pharmacies for disposal. Once medicines have left the pharmacy, they cannot be recycled or re-used by anyone else. Inhalers are recyclable though at participating pharmacies.

Wasted or unused medicine is a serious and growing problem within the NHS that you can help tackle. It is estimated that as much as £300million is wasted every year in the UK on unused or partially used medication which cannot be recycled or re-used. A campaign called Only Order What You Need, working with the NHS, asks people to think carefully before ordering repeat prescriptions.

How can I get rid of them?

  • Return to a pharmacy or chemist for safe disposal;
  • Do not flush medicines down the toilet.

Inhalers - did you know?

  • Approximately 73 million inhalers are used in the UK every year;*
  • Landfill disposal of inhalers is harmful to the environment both in material waste and in greenhouse gas emissions should the gas canisters become pierced or crushed and the propellant released;
  • If every inhaler-user in the UK returned all their inhalers for one year, this would save 512,330 tonnes of CO2eq - the same as a VW Golf car being driven around the world 88,606 times.*

*GSK data on file. UK Inhaler recycling & environmental claims July 12

What to do with...

  • Popular items
  • All items
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube

Around the UK

  • Recycle Now
  • Recycle for Scotland
  • Northern Ireland
  • Wales Recycles

Brought to you by WRAP

The Waste and Resources Action Programme (which operates as WRAP) is a registered UK Charity No. 1159512 and registered as a Company limited by guarantee in England & Wales No. 4125764.

Registered office at Second Floor, Blenheim Court, 19 George Street, Banbury, Oxon, OX16 5BH.

  • Sitemap
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & conditions
  • Community guidelines
  • Cookies