Trial turns pill packets into garden furniture

Blister packs are a common way to package medications like pills and capsules

A scheme to recycle medicine packaging is being trialled in a bid to stop it going to landfill.

Empty tablet blister packs can be dropped into boxes at three libraries in North Oxfordshire.

The used packaging will then be turned into raw materials that can be transformed into items like outdoor furniture or plastic shipping pallets.

The TerraCycle bins can be found at Banbury Library, Bicester Library and Kidlington Library.

'Difficult to recycle'

Blister packs see pills individually sealed in plastic and foil, which protects them from moisture, light, and air.

But Cherwell District Council, which is running the green initiative, said the materials were usually "difficult to recycle".

Only a small number of packets can be dropped at the libraries at any one time, the authority said.

Each one must not have originally been destined for disposal as clinical or hazardous waste.

When recycled, the waste is sorted, melted and turned into pellets, flakes or powder.

It is sometimes then blended with other plastics, before being moulded into new products.