Community pharmacies in south-east London have launched what is believed to be England’s only nationally-funded inhaler recycling pilot.

NHS England (NHSE) has funded the scheme, which aims to reduce greenhouse gases from metered dose inhalers.

Patients will be encouraged to return their used or expired inhalers to one of 20 participating community pharmacies.

The inhalers will then be sent to specialist facilities at Grundon Waste Management.

The facility will ‘recover and repurpose a substantial portion’ of the greenhouse gases used in the inhalers as a propellant.

The scheme will help ensure that no clinical waste goes to landfill, and will reduce the environmental impact of inhalers.

The South East London Integrated Care System is working with NHSE, Greener NHS and other local stakeholders to run the initiative.

The first recycling site went live at King’s College Hospital in February 2024.

'Decisive action' needed

Inhalers account for 4% of all NHS CO2 emissions each year, according to Grundon Waste Management.

And hospital pharmacist Laura Stevenson, who submitted the initial project bid, highlighted that medicines make up a ‘staggering’ 25% of the NHS carbon footprint.

‘The climate crisis is a health crisis, and we need to take decisive action to ensure we minimise our environmental impact,’ she said.

The inhaler recycling scheme could play ‘a huge part’ in reaching environmental aims, including reaching Net Zero by 2050, she added.

Dr Laura-Jane Smith, consultant respiratory physician at King’s College Hospital, commented: ‘We know how worried people are about the health effects of climate change, especially as people with respiratory disease are more vulnerable to heat and air pollution.

‘By taking the simple step of returning inhalers to local pharmacies and hospitals, instead of putting them in home waste, patients can ensure the NHS can recycle the inhalers and avoid them going to landfill. Working together we can create powerful solutions.’

Brendon Jiang, vice chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) England Pharmacy Board, suggested that increasing engagement between pharmacy teams and people with respiratory diseases also presents opportunities to review inhaler technique and can help patients to keep track of their remaining doses, which would help to avoid further waste.

'We heard the project garnered much interest from patients and community staff who are very pleased to be involved so we are hopeful that this initiative will be successful, demonstrating pharmacy can have a positive environmental impact in a sustainable way,' he added.

The 2021-22 Take AIR (Action for Inhaler Recycling) scheme across Leicestershire also utilised Grundon Waste Management’s inhaler recycling technology.

Patients returned some 52,148 inhalers through the post over a 24-month period. This saved an estimated equivalent of 305.3 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions entering the atmosphere

The waste management provider also worked with GSK on its Complete the Cycle inhaler recycling scheme.