Bring back your Halloween candy wrappers and snack packaging to any London Drugs store in BC!
London Drugs is delighted to to announce the first-ever Halloween candy wrapper return drive in BC to help keep seasonal snack packaging waste out of the city’s landfills.
Customers can bring their chocolate bar and Halloween candy wrappers as well as potato chip bags and other flexible plastic packaging to any London Drugs location. The items collected will be sent to Merlin Plastics, a post-consumer processing company in Delta, BC, and used for research and development as the company works to develop a commercially viable process for repurposing these common but tough-to-process items.
Halloween candy wrappers that cannot be recycled will be used to produce engineered fuel for commercial operations such as concrete plants.
“We want to help British Columbians celebrate Halloween with a bit less waste by making one simple suggestion: instead of throwing out your candy wrappers and chip bags, bring them to London Drugs.”
~ Maury McCausland, Retail Operations Sustainability Specialist, London Drugs
Other Flexible Plastic Packaging Initiative
London Drugs’ Other Flexible Plastic Packaging initiative is part of RecycleBC’s new take-back program. These types of plastics, including Halloween candy wrappers, are among the fastest-growing forms of packaging on the market and one of the largest categories of packaging, particularly for confectionery and snack foods.
According to Stats Canada, over $550 million worth of cookies, confectionery, and snack foods were sold across Canada last October, contributing significant amounts of packaging waste to landfills and the environment. Food wrappers are also a common source of marine litter and were among the top five items found in the Ocean Conservatory’s International Coastal Clean-up last year.
“This is really a big problem; the volume of wrapper waste is significant,” says McCausland. “That’s why we’re making a commitment to help address it – not just at Halloween but year-round.”
Plastics You Can Bring Back
London Drugs accepts all sorts of items in the Other Flexible Plastic Packaging category including:
- Stand up and zipper lock pouches
- Crinkly wrappers and bags, including chip bags, bars, and candy wrappers
- Flexible packaging with plastic seal
- Woven net and plastic bags
- Non-food protective packaging
See the complete list of accepted other flexible plastic packaging.
“Last year, with the help of our customers and staff, our stores celebrated a 93% waste diversion rate. This program will help get us one step closer to zero waste,” says McCausland.
