How drugmakers are handling new pressure to recycle plastic injection pens as millions of new patients begin using GLP-1s

On plas­tic chairs made from dis­card­ed obe­si­ty and di­a­betes drug pen in­jec­tors, No­vo Nordisk is lit­er­al­ly sit­ting on its block­buster GLP-1 so­lu­tion. The cafe­te­ria in its newest site in Den­mark is full of chairs and oth­er fur­ni­ture made from dis­card­ed and re­cy­cled di­a­betes and obe­si­ty sin­gle-use pens.

As mil­lions of pre­scrip­tions get writ­ten, lead­ing to even more mil­lions of dis­card­ed pens, the av­er­age per­son may al­so some­day sit on a chair made from the up­cy­cled byprod­ucts of a trend­ing obe­si­ty treat­ment.

Unlock this article instantly by becoming a free subscriber.

You’ll get access to free articles each month, plus you can customize what newsletters get delivered to your inbox each week, including breaking news.