Thank you for your interest in PenCycle. As a central point of care, community pharmacies like yours will be key to the success of this initiative.
PenCycle is completely free of charge. If you haven’t already signed up, you can do so here.
This video provides an introduction to the PenCycle process and supporting materials. For more information, please read on below.
On signing up, your pharmacy will receive a welcome pack containing:
These materials are provided completely free of charge, and can be ordered from our partner organisation, Alliance Healthcare.
You can order more materials at any time by using the relevant
Alliance Healthcare PIP-CODES and placing orders via your PMR
platform, My AH Portal or by calling Alliance Healthcare customer
services on:
0330 100 0448
www.alliance-healthcare.co.uk/pencycle
This list contains all the PIP-Codes required to reorder support
materials through Alliance Healthcare:
- Information leaflets – 8037533
- Posters – 8037558
- Stickers – 8037541
- Pharmacy display units (containing return boxes) – 8037434
- PenCycle recycling bin – 8037426
- Self-adhesive envelope – 8037517
The initiative has been developed in collaboration with pharmacists, and your role couldn’t be simpler:
Provide pen users with PenCycle return boxes
When dispensing Novo Nordisk pens to pen users, introduce the initiative and encourage them to take home a PenCycle return box and/or information leaflet so they can get started.
Accept pen users’ returned boxes when full
Pen users who PenCycle will collect their empty pens (with the needles removed) in their return boxes at home and return them to you when full. When you accept a full return box from a pen user, please provide them with a new, empty return box so they can continue PenCycling.
Collect PenCycle return boxes
Any full return boxes you receive from pen users should be stored in the supplied blue PenCycle recycling bin (25L Blue Pharma) you received from Alliance Healthcare. Please only use this bin to store empty Novo Nordisk pens that will be returned as part of PenCycle.
Arrange a collection with Alliance Healthcare
When your recycling bin is full, please seal it and raise a collection through Alliance Healthcare's My AH portal.
A barcode will be provided on the portal which must be printed off and placed within the self-adhesive envelope so it remains visible. Attach this envelope to the recycling bin using the adhesive backing, to ensure the contents remain identifiable on their journey to the recycling facility.
Alliance Healthcare will collect your full PenCycle recycling bin during one of their existing delivery slots. Your full recycling bin will then be delivered to us so the pens can be recycled.
As with the other materials, you can order a new PenCycle
recycling bin at any time, completely free of charge, using the
relevant PIP-CODES, through your PMR platform, My AH Portal or
Alliance Healthcare customer services.
Please note: As part of the PenCycle registration process, you completed and returned a waste transfer note. This covers your PenCycle returns for a period of one year but your copy must be retained in your records for two years.
Some important information to remember when talking to pen users:
- Only empty Novo Nordisk diabetes (insulin/GLP-1)
and weight management pens can be returned to
pharmacies as part of PenCycle
- Pen
users must remove the needle from their
pen and make sure their pen is empty before dropping it
in their return box. Please ask them NOT to include the
needle in the return box
- PenCycle
return boxes can hold a maximum of 12 pens
