CVS Is Switching to Aluminum Pill Bottles

CVS is changing increase his pill bottles, exchange plastic of aluminum.

For years, pills have come in hard plastic bags. Although technically recyclable, these containers tend to be accepted in fewer places than usual aluminum recycling.

Drugstores have recently begun selling prescription-only, CVS-brand versions of some weight loss and pain relievers in aluminum bottles.

“For OTC drugs, aluminum packaging offers a number of practical and sustainable benefits,” wrote Mike Wier, vice president of product marketing at CVS, in an email to WIRED. “Like many packaging options, aluminum provides a strong barrier to help maintain stability and the life of aluminum.”

Aluminum’s first offering begins with CVS’s range of over-the-counter pain relievers. These are large containers of over-the-counter drug brands with similar ingredients such as Allegra, Benadryl, Claritin, Zyrtec, Tylenol, and Advil. The new bottles are lighter than the plastic versions, but CVS did not respond to WIRED’s question about how much they weigh. The tablets inside will remain the same, although they will make a louder noise here. CVS also says it is not increasing the prices of the bottles after the change.

Aluminum bottles will certainly be replaceable, but Wier says people will still need to do the same things to recycle their aluminum bottles as plastic, such as removing the label and cap. (Aluminum bottle caps are similar to plastic caps, and do not fit in the same bin as the bottom of the bottle.)

Recycling is seen as an added bonus for CVS rather than the main goal of the retailer’s move to aluminum. Change comes as part of a to revive the color for CVS, just over a year after the company went under closing 270 stores across the US. In an online statement, CVS says it’s also changing its brand to make finding prescriptions easier. It would also be a move to help combat the stereotype that people get when they walk into a CVS and find almost anything in the store. closed to prevent shoplifting.

Currently, aluminum bottles are available in a selection of pharmaceutical products. CVS says it is waiting to see how its customers respond before adding aluminum bottles to more medicines or using them in prescriptions.