Inhalers shouldn’t be thrown in the bin. When inhalers end up in landfill, environment-harming residual gas from canisters is released into the atmosphere.
Please see below for a video on the importance of disposing of inhaler correctly:
Did you know that 73 million asthma inhalers are prescribed in the UK? And with over 5.4 million people in the UK who have asthma, it’s not surprising.
How often have you thrown an empty asthma inhaler in the bin without thinking about where it goes, and how many of us know that we can recycle our used asthma inhalers?
There is also a lot of waste from unused or expired inhalers, all of which can harm the environment if not disposed of correctly. Inhalers cannot be recycled or disposed of with household waste so patients should be encouraged to return them to pharmacies.
The information in the above image can also be found here in a pdf (EXTERNAL PDF LINK)
Inhaler recycling schemes are patchy. If there is no recycling scheme locally, it is still important for inhalers to be returned to pharmacies so they can be incinerated with medical waste rather than go to landfill. All pharmacies should offer this service. To find your nearest participating branch please click on the link below.
NHS Find a Pharmacy
Unused medicines should always be returned to a pharmacy to dispose of safely.
Please take a look at the short video below to for more information the different types of devices available and how to use them.
To see a leaflet from Greener Practice explaining how to tell if your inhaler is empty, please click on the link below.
How to tell if my inhaler is empty leaflet (PDF, 822KB)
More information from Greener Practice regarding inhalers and their disposal here
Text from above image:
Return your used inhalers to a pharmacy to help reduce your carbon footprint. The propellants in some inhalers are powerful greenhouse gases that contribute towards climate change. Even after an inhaler is finished it still contains these environmentally damaging gases. Please be assured these gases are not harmful to you when you are using your inhaler.
Return all used inhalers to your local pharmacy for safe disposal. Returned inhalers will be incinerated which will destroy the greenhouses gases and prevent inhaler plastics going to landfill.
Don't throw used inhalers into your household waste or recycling bins. Landfill disposal of inhalers is harmful to the environment due to left over gases being released into the atmosphere. Plastics from inhalers can not be recycled using domestic recycling schemes.
Make each puff count! Only order your inhaler when required to reduce waste.
If you have concerns about the environmental impact of your inhaler make an appointment with your GP practice, don't stop using your inhaler.