Moved by Councillor Worling, seconded by
Councillor Kok –
It is resolved that:
(A)
Council
note:
(i)
every
year, hundreds of millions of medicinal
blister packs (used for
packaging pharmaceuticals) are either sent to landfill or incorrectly
placed into kerbside recycling, contaminating other materials streams. As blister packs are made of
different materials, including plastic and aluminium, they cannot be recycled through kerbside recycling;
(ii)
for blister packs to be recycled, they first
need to be collected in sufficient volumes to warrant the use of specialised
recycling technology;
(iii)
Pharmacycle is Australia’s first and only end to
end recycling program for household and commercial medicinal blister pack
waste. Using specialised
recycling technology, located in Australia, Pharmacycle ensures that blister
packs collected for recycling are actually recycled;
(iv)
in May
2024, the City introduced blister pack drop off at their Recycle It Saturday
event at Alexandria Canal Depot. Residents dropped off 9,700 items equivalent
to 14.6kg of materials (aluminium and plastics) for recycling;
(v)
in
addition to dropping blister packs off at Recycle It Saturday, City of Sydney residents can currently
recycle blister packs using the City’s doorstep recycling
program or they can drop them off at the City’s Ultimo recycling pop-up;
(vi)
since
2023, St Vincents Hospital in Darlinghurst has diverted thousands of blister
packs, used by the hospital’s Heart and Lung transplant recipients, from
landfill. Heart and Lung Clinic patients bring in their used blister packs
generally when attending an appointment; and
(vii)
St
Vincents Hospital sees more than 40,000 in-patients per year. Their long-term
goal for blister pack recycling is to open the drop-off option to the entire
public hospital, and to all City of Sydney residents who wish to recycle
blister packs; and
(B)
the
Chief Executive Officer be requested to investigate how the City of Sydney
could support the development and creation of a city-wide blister pack drop-off
location at St Vincents Hospital, whether through Grants and Sponsorships,
strategic partnerships or facilitating discussions with Pharmacycle and other
key stakeholders.
Carried unanimously.
X099886