'Blister Pack Recycling Update'
There are several of us who have embraced the issue of recycling blister packs as part of SBC caring for God’s creation. Regular contributors include members of groups who meet in the coffee lounge and also the Townswomen's Guild, plus our dear friends who spend much of their time at home, but are still joining us and sending in blister packs via others who visit.
July and August were particularly fruitful months due to Holiday at Home! We are going to be looking into how feasible it would be to have a more permanent way to deal with the increasing volume. This is because we are exceeding the amount one person can reasonably deposit at Boots each week. If you are, or have been using the blister recycling bin, please let Hilary H or the office know, particularly how often, ie weekly, monthly or occasional use. It will be interesting to know the total number of people involved.
It's likely there will be some costs involved as blister packs are a hard product to recycle. We know as a church we are motivated to protect the environment. But we can already see there are other opportunities to make blister pack recycling more widespread. We can write to our councillors to change things locally and to our MPs to lobby pharmaceutical companies to make changes and consider recycling pre-production as food companies have to do. We can also speak to our own community pharmacies to raise the awareness of blister pack recycling and encourage them to provide collection points (as they already do with inhalers), with an aim to make it an accessible free service for all. In the meantime back to SBC, it would be good to know if a few people would be in a position to join together to sponsor our own recycling bin as we don't want to call on SBC funds or lose momentum.
On a practical note please empty your blister packs into the coffee lounge bin if there is space of course, so you can reuse your bag next time or perhaps the paper bag your prescription was dispensed in. Finally, Hilary can make time for one Boots trip a week, and Linda is already dealing with other bulky church recycling, so it would be great to know if anyone else could occasionally collect a carrier bag of blister packs, perhaps on a Sunday then recycle if going somewhere with a Boots or Superdrug. That would be really helpful, as there's always more than one trip's worth. So, please also let us know if you can occasionally assist with the recycling drop off until we can sort out a permanent collection.
With thanks Linda and Hilary H