London Drugs tallies an important metric in 2018: one million pounds of plastic recycled. Plastic bag use by customers also dropped 75 per cent over two-year period.

Thanks to you and to robust recycling processes and partners, together we diverted 12 million pounds of waste from landfills in 2018, including one-million pounds of plastic recycled.

Customers are more mindful now than ever about their plastic bag use, with a 75 per cent reduction in plastic bags being used in our stores compared to bag use totals from 2016.

“Our updated plastic, cardboard, Styrofoam, and additional material recycling statistics is a culmination of several initiatives London Drugs has undertaken in our stores, head office and distribution centre and just as important is a nod to our customers for bringing in these materials for proper recycling instead of throwing them in the garbage and having them end up in our landfills,” says Raman Johal, London Drugs Retail Operations Sustainability Specialist.

We accept recycling in all of our London Drugs locations across Western Canada and we have Recycling Centres in 39 stores, making it convenient for customers to recycle everything from batteries to styrofoam, small appliances, and more.

In 2018, London Drugs achieved an average 93.5 per cent waste diversion in its stores.

Since initiating new plastic bag reduction measures, London Drugs saw plastic bag use by customers decrease by 75.1 per cent since 2016.

Through this continued commitment to recycling, plastic and waste reduction, a young customer has come forward with similar environmental goals who is going to great lengths to promote plastic reduction.

Mason is an eleven-year-old Lower Mainland boy and the creator of Mason’s Ocean. Mason has been using social media to share important information about the oceans and how everyday recycling actions can significantly reduce our impact on the environment. Mason and his mother regularly use the London Drugs recycling centre to responsibly reduce waste.

“London Drugs is a company that is leading by example by providing easy and accessible recycling bins to help reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in the landfills and oceans,” says Mason, founder of Mason’s Ocean.

Learn more about London Drugs’ recycling efforts and what we take back.

You can recycle a lot of things at London Drugs, from batteries to small appliances to smoke alarms. But just in case you sometimes ask yourself WHY you bother recycling, here’s a look at five things we take back that really should never be thrown away and the most important reasons for that.

Computers

Why you should recycle them: data security

It’s tempting when cleaning out the closets to just chuck that old doorstop of a computer into the alley or dumpster. (Maybe SOMEBODY will want it?) Well, somebody might — and they may have less than noble plans for your data. It’s very hard to completely erase digital memory, so data-carrying devices may have personal information on them that can be retrieved.

That’s why London Drugs’ computer recycling takes extreme care to track data-carrying devices and destroy the hard drives before they leave our stores. Our recycling partners also have security measures and ALL of our electronics are broken down into materials here in Canada before being shipped anywhere else. Got an old computer, PDA, or cellphone? Recycle them with us.

Batteries

Why you should recycle them: chemical recovery

Besides stored electrons, batteries also contain complex compounds that can be harmful to the environment. Fortunately, many of these materials are also valuable enough to recover for use in remanufacturing.

Lithium, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, and zinc are some of the elements that are recovered from battery recycling. These are not good to have in our landfills or waterways. So drop your batteries off at London Drugs (here’s what will happen to them). We take rechargeables, alkalines, button batteries, and specialty electronics batteries (under 5 lbs).

Light Bulbs

Why you should recycle them: Mercury

According to one study, one gram of mercury can contaminate a 20-acre lake.

Many fluorescent-type light bulbs contain traces of mercury, so it’s a good idea to keep them out of our ecosystems. We take compact fluorescents (CLFs), LEDs, even Christmas lights and fluorescent tubes up to 48”. Just be sure to avoid bulb breakage while recycling. Seal the bulbs in a zip bag and put them in a box.

Soft Plastic Bags and Overwrap

Why you should recycle them: To help keep our rivers and oceans clean

If you can stretch soft plastic or poke your finger through it, you can recycle it at any London Drugs. Plastic bags, overwrap, and stretch film are accepted at all of our stores. This plastic is also easily blown out of garbage containers, trucks, and even landfills, which means it may end up in rivers or oceans. The soft kind of plastic is very recyclable and is made into things like park benches and plastic deck lumber. (Crinklies and other flexible packaging are recyclable at our BC stores.)

Styrofoam

Why you should recycle it: To use up less landfill space and avoid plastic ‘crumbs’ in the environment

Styrofoam, or ‘Expanded Polystyrene’, is actually a very recyclable material. Our recycler partners take the air out of it, condensing the foam down until it is virtually solid plastic. Then it is sold on commodities markets to be remanufactured into picture frames, mouldings, and more.

The list goes on and on. See everything you can (and should) recycle at London Drugs. Do the right thing (it feels good!)