Diabetes Pen Recycle aka PenCycle

• After a short pilot period in the three pilot sites; Leicestershire & Rutland, Greater Manchester and Greater Glasgow, PenCycle is a recycling scheme that is available for community pharmacies across the devolved nations of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Norther Ireland).
  1. PenCycle is an end-of-life waste management scheme aimed to halt pre-filled Novo Nordisk pens ending up in landfill or going to incineration, and rather go into a circular recycling scheme where the component materials are repurposed into new products. The primary objective is to tackle the plastic waste.
  2. Novo Nordisk supplies the UK with approximately 24 million pre-filled pens on an annual basis which equates to 400 tonnes of plastic waste.
  3. To-date, with the support from community pharmacy, Novo Nordisk has received 1.2 million used pre-filled pens back. Approximately 15% from community pharmacy and 85% from postal returns.
     • This equate to around 12.1 tonnes of plastic waste avoided from landfill/incineration.
     • This equates to around 4.7 tonnes of glass (vials) waste avoided from landfill/incineration.
     • This equates to around 1.5 tonnes of steel waste avoided from landfill/incineration.
  4. To-date 3,450 community pharmacies have joined nationally. Boots UK is the larger part of this with 2,200 branches signed up. Novo Nordisk is working to expand PenCycle as broadly as possible into pharmacy for patient convenience and returns.
  5. To-date around 400 GP practices and 170 Hospital departments engage patients using PenCycle materials.

• Specifically in Leicestershire & Rutland some key highlights below
  1. LLR LPC has been a strong partner in engaging their local contractors and thereby return of pre-filled pens.
  2. To-date approximately 55,000 used pre-filled pens have been returned within LLR. Approximately 60% from community pharmacy and 20% from postal returns.
     • This equate to around 577kg of plastic waste avoided from landfill/incineration.
     • This equates to around 225kg of glass (vials) waste avoided from landfill/incineration.
     • This equates to around 71kg of steel waste avoided from landfill/incineration.
  3. To-date 78 community pharmacies have joined with LLR LPC’s contractor area.

Ps. You can find participating pharmacies on the PenCycle heatmap (Where can I PenCycle? | PenCycle)