30/04/2026
Hand them in, don’t put them in the bin! ♻️
Use an inhaler for a condition like asthma or COPD? You can now safely dispose of old inhalers at Tameside Hospital in a more environmentally friendly way.
Some types of inhalers contain greenhouse gases as propellants to help deliver the medicine to your lungs. While these gases are not harmful to people who use inhalers, they do contribute to climate change by trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere.
Even after the inhaler is empty of medicine, these environmentally damaging gases remain and so inhalers should never be discarded as part of general household rubbish.
Instead, the best and safest way to get rid of an expired or unused inhaler is to return it to a pharmacy or hospital where it can be disposed of properly.
Inhalers collected in the new bins at Tameside Hospital will be sent for incineration, which degrades the leftover greenhouse gases to make them less harmful to the environment.
The inhaler bins were kindly donated by Veolia, a UK-based company who provide a range of waste, water and energy management services designed to protect the environment.
Read more: https://www.tamesideandglossopicft.nhs.uk/news-and-events/latest-news/hand-them-dont-put-them-bin-dispose-old-inhalers-tameside-hospital
