You can recycle inhalers at participating pharmacies and hospitals in south east London. The map shows you where you can recycle your inhalers. All pharmacies will accept unused or expired inhalers, but only those shown on the map are currently able to recycle them.
You can now recycle pressurised metered dose inhalers at participating sites.
Inhalers should not go in the bin or recycling at home. They end up in landfill, and the gases they contain contribute to climate change. Even inhalers that seem empty can still contain greenhouse gases. (Don’t worry, though – these gases are not harmful to your health when you use your inhaler.)
Please bring us your old, expired and unused inhalers!
You can bring your old inhalers to us here:
We would like to understand more about how you usually dispose of your used inhalers.
If you use inhalers, please take two minutes and tell us how are you usually dispose of them.
Where can I recycle my inhalers?
Can I bring in any type of inhaler?
Currently, only pressurised metered dose inhalers can be recycled. All other types of inhalers are incinerated through appropriate clinical waste routes.
But please return all your inhalers to your local pharmacies – they cannot be disposed of at home.
What happens to my inhalers after I return them?
Your old, unused, or expired pressurised metered dose inhalers are transported to a waste management site where the gases in them are repurposed into a coolant. The plastic and aluminium parts of the inhalers are also then recycled.
Will there be a national inhaler recycling scheme in the future?
NHS England is committed to exploring inhaler recycling and its potential benefits. NHS England are currently supporting a small numbers of inhaler recycling pilots to assess the feasibility of a national scheme. If you would like more information or are keen to share further information with us, please reach out to the NHS England Medicines Net Zero team.
If you have any questions about this project, please email:
SELInhalerRecycling@selondonics.nhs.uk
This is a collaborative short-term project that is funded and supported by Greener NHS.
This project also meets the objectives set out in the SEL ICS Green Plan 2022-2025 of ensuring no clinical waste goes to landfill and reducing environmental impact of inhalers.