Boots ditches paper bags in favour of plastic

There are calls to boycott the high street chain.

Customers are calling for a boycott of Boots after the high street giant replaced paper bags with plastic ones.

Despite pledging to reduce ‘single-use plastics’ in store, the company is now dispensing some prescriptions wrapped in the polluting material.

The firm said the plastic is ‘more durable’ and helps secure patient data.

They also told Metro.co.uk that the move was only temporary until they could find ‘alternative packaging options.’

But livid customers are now cancelling prescriptions or returning bags back to the store with ‘shame on you’ written on it.

Roisin Moriarty told the BBC said she became ‘increasingly angry’ after being given her medication in a plastic bag.

She said: ‘I told my colleagues, who were equally appalled, then decided I could not let it lie.’

She returned to the store with the offending item.

She added: ‘I scrawled “shame on you” and “paper, not plastic” on it in black marker pen, took it up to the pharmacy counter, and dropped it behind it behind it with an overly-polite “this is for whoever cares to take any notice” then walked out again.’

Environmentalists have been increasingly warning about the imminent threat to our planet because of plastic pollution.

Last year, Boots signed up to UK Plastics Pact and at the time said it was ‘committed to reducing single-use plastics.’

It charges customers 5p to use plastic carrier bags to encourage people to bring their own sustainable alternatives.

The intersection between the fight on plastic, pharmacy, branding and Preston. All in one story! Who'd have thought it? Serious note though – Boots' comments are all about the operation and miss the customer dissatisfaction issue completely. Come on Boots. https://t.co/dln8RhP1xZ pic.twitter.com/mX7vDHeTfU

— The Face Of Pharmacy (@FaceOfPharmacy) May 17, 2019

The prescriptions that have changed from paper to plastic are assembled by robots at Dispensing Support Pharmacy (DSP) in Preston.

Boots said the majority of prescriptions were still dispensed in store in paper bags.

But they added those filled by machine needed to be plastic because they are ‘more robust.’

A spokesman added: ‘The bags also need to be heat-sealed shut, which reduces the risk of products falling out of the bags in transit.’

Boots pharmacists have come under fire in the past for dispensing errors, which have proved fatal in a handful of cases.

The firm, now majority owned by US retailer Walgreens, is aiming to reduce workload from individual stores and move some routine repeat dispensing to DSP.

Plastic bag prescriptions are now offered in 380 stores.

Ms Moriarty was joined in her outrage on Twitter, including Deputy Labour Party leader Tom Watson.

He said: ‘Seriously Boots? Turning from paper to plastic to save costs is not an acceptable way to run a business these days.

‘Your customers are rightly livid and baffled. Sort this out please.’

Customer Donald Vaughan said he complained to Boots and was told to put the bags in the recycling.

He added: ‘They told me the bags are recyclable but they’re not in my area.

‘I empty the bag and leave it with Boots when I collect my meds.’

Twitter user known as Aunty Abba called for a boycott because of ‘their lazy approach to addressing their impact on the environment.’

Last week, Sir David Attenborough made a heartfelt plea to the world to reduce its reliance on plastics, which are causing up to a million deaths per year.

The burning of plastic waste is causing killer lung conditions while children are dying as they pick up diseases from dumped rubbish.

Boots said that the move to plastic bags was only temporary as new machinery needed to be made for alternative packaging.

A spokesman said: ‘Our centralised pharmacy uses bags that are 100% recyclable.

‘These bags mean that we can deliver medicines to patients in a way that is safe, clean, dry and durable.

‘For the last few months we have been looking at alternative packaging options that have the same qualities, and we will move to these as soon as we can.

‘This takes a little time as machines need to be made and commissioned that will work safely and effectively.

‘In the meantime, for comparison, we have reduced the amount of plastic in our forthcoming Christmas ranges by 164 tonnes.

‘This is more than three times the amount that we use in total in our pharmacy bags each year.’