Sustainability

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We are powered by the sun... and so much more!

At St. Paul Corner Drug, we believe the health of the planet directly impacts the health of the people living on it and that every person and business has a responsibility to protect this fundamental, symbiotic relationship between us and the Earth. In order to minimize our environmental impact, we’ve taken intentional measures to limit the amount of waste we and our patients produce and power our pharmacy using clean energy.

Solar Energy

Since February, 2012 approximately 65% of our store’s daily energy consumption has been supplied by our solar canopy—the first of its kind in our great state of Minnesota!

Community Recycling

  • NOTE: Unfortunately, our community recycling initiative is currently on hold while we utilize the front of our store for a vaccination clinic. Keep
  • posted on social media for when this service makes a comeback!

In partnership with Terracycle, we currently have recycling programs for:

  • Razors, blades and associated packaging
  • Oral care products and associated packaging
  • A wide variety of health, wellness and beauty products packaging, including blister packs, tubes, bottles, wrappers, cans, boxes, spray bottles, caps and lids

If you choose to recycle your health and wellness waste at our store, please help us keep our containers clean and their contents viable for recycling by doing the following:

  • Ensure all excess product liquids, such as medicines and topicals, have been removed
  • If you choose to rinse your product, make sure it is completely dry—UPS will not accept dripping packages!
  • Avoid placing compost or garbage in our recycling containers

Click on the following links to download our recycling program fliers.

Gillette® Razor Recycling Program | RB Health & Nutrition Recycling Program | Colgate® Oral Care Recycling Program | Garnier® Personal Care & Beauty Recycling Program

Biodegradable Products & Prescription Packaging

While recycling is a great step toward minimizing our environmental impact, the fact remains that many items (most, actually) that are recycled fail to be downcycled into other items in the way we hope they would be. In place of recycling, utilizing biodegradable products helps us directly prevent devastating pollution in our landfills and oceans and allows these products to naturally return to the earth when they are no longer of use to us.

Since 2015, our old-fashioned soda fountain has been a low-waste food service facility, with almost 100% compostable to-go packaging that includes biodegradable cups, straws, and tableware.

Additionally, we recently switched to dispensing our patients’ medications in biodegradable prescription vials from Pharmacy-Lite that, after being deposited in the trash, will break down in 3 years (850% faster than conventional vials).