To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs to detail his plans for expansion of recycling facilities for blister packs.

Blister packs are considered a ‘hard to recycle’ product due to the combination of materials used in manufacture of these products, normally a mix of foil and plastic (either polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC)). Northern Ireland does not yet have a service available at the kerbside for the recycling of these items in large part due to difficulties in separating the two materials at the processing stage.

Superdrug, in partnership with Terracycle, sponsor a recycling option for medicinal blister packs with drop-off points available in 197 stores across the United Kingdom. Collected blister packs are sent to be separated by polymer type before being extruded into plastic pellets to make new recycled products.

My emphasis for recycling is on increasing the quality and quantity of the resources that are collected, realising the value of recycling to the local economy, whilst delivering environmental and economic benefits. We must also be careful not to demonise all plastic. Blister packs, for example, have considerable benefits in healthcare, allowing consumers to better keep track of their medications in a safe way.

The Department is a signatory to the UK Plastics Pact which enables us to work with industry partners to focus on issues around eliminating problematic and unnecessary plastic packaging. In addition to this, officials from my Department are continuing to liaise with all stakeholders including councils, reprocessors and the wider waste sector to establish how additional materials could be included for recycling.