Cabinet Health kicks off national recycling program addressing pharmaceutical plastic waste

Cabinet Health is launching a nationwide pill bottle recycling program to address the pharmaceutical plastic waste crisis.

Through the program, anyone in the United States will be able to request a recycling bag from Cabinet Health, ship back their old, empty plastic pill bottles—with all personal information removed—for free to Cabinet, where the bottles will then either be recycled responsibly or upcycled into an evolving art sculpture by interdisciplinary artist Kellie Gillespie. To participate, visit online here and receive a recycling bag with a prepaid shipping label. 

[Read more: Cabinet Health debuts in CVS stores]

An estimated 165 billion plastic pill bottles enter our oceans, waterways and landfills every year, while only an estimated 5% of plastic waste generated annually in the United States actually gets recycled. The amber pharmacy pill bottles, which make up a majority of all plastic pill bottles in the United States, are generally not accepted by curbside recycling programs at all, contributing the same amount of waste roughly equivalent to filling over 3,300 Olympic-sized swimming pools, Cabinet Health said.

"Pharmaceutical plastic waste remains an environmental issue, and Cabinet Health is committed to not only raising awareness but to providing tangible solutions to address it. And this extends beyond our environment to human health, as we’re eliminating the eventual consumption of microplastics from our bodies," said Russell Gong, co-founder and president of Cabinet Health. “We are proud to partner with sculptural artist and mental health activist Kellie Gillespie to support her next piece of artwork that will live on well beyond the norm of a single-use plastic bottle.”

[Read more: Cabinet Health raises $17M to eliminate single-use plastic medicine packaging]

All plastic pill bottles received through the program will be incorporated into Kellie Gillespie’s next piece of artwork. With the program and respective art piece to follow, Cabinet Health’s national recycling program enables Kellie to transform America's pill bottle waste into an extraordinary art installation made entirely of repurposed items commonly discarded by society. Cabinet Health hopes this initiative will help to further amplify and raise awareness around the growing plastic waste crisis and provides accessible opportunities for individuals to reduce their plastic waste while learning about more sustainable solutions in health care.

Cabinet Health reimagined traditional pill bottle packaging to offer customers a first-of-its-kind, low-waste solution free of single-use plastics. Cabinet Health’s system features elevated glass bottles that can be infinitely re-used, along with patented compostable pill packages that are made out of 100% earth-digestible materials and are city-compost friendly. By switching to the brand's refillable system, Cabinet Health's customers eliminate up to one pound of plastic annually and hundreds of pounds of plastic in a lifetime, the company said.

Cabinet Health products are currently found on CabinetHealth.com, via online retailers such as Grove Collaborative and Amazon, and in-store in select CVS locations nationwide. Cabinet Health is a certified B-Corp that prioritizes minimizing carbon footprint, water waste and material waste in their offerings and practices, the company noted.