Boots customers are furious over plastic prescription bags

Boots has come under fire for handing out drug prescriptions in plastic bags instead of traditional paper ones.

The health and beauty chain said the switch is due to the introduction of its new “dispensing support pharmacy” (DPS) in Preston, where some repeat prescriptions are now filled by machine, before being sent to local pharmacies.

Plastic is “more durable” and helps secure patient data, Boots said. Plastic is also used because the bags need to be heat-sealed to prevent products from falling out.

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Customers are angry about the decision, as Boots signed the UK Plastics Pact in August 2018, saying at the time it was "committed to reducing single-use plastic.”

One customer, Bob Knightley, said he complained to Boots after he received his prescription in a plastic bag in April.

"They deserve to lose more customers for such a bad decision,” Knightley told the BBC.

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Another customer, Roisin Moriarty, said she was so “appalled” she wrote “Shame on you!” and “Paper not plastic!” on the bag. She then took it back to her local Boots pharmacy.

“[I] took it up to the pharmacy counter with an overly-polite, 'This is for whoever cares to take any notice,' then walked out,” Moriarty said.

Others simply vented their frustration online.

Among them was Tom Watson, deputy leader of the Labour Party, who tweeted, “Sort this out please.”

With the environmental effects of plastic waste now well-established, retailers are under increasing pressure to reduce or eliminate plastic packaging.

More than 5 million tonnes of plastic are consumed every year in the UK, of which only about a quarter is recycled, with the remainder going to landfills.

Boots insisted the bags are 100% recyclable and only temporary, telling Metro it is looking for “alternative packaging options.”