[Monitoring pharmaceutical waste for environmental awareness]

Introduction: For drug residues in large rivers and lakes, we are talking about data on the order of nanograms per litre. Today, environmental awareness is present in all walks of life. One might legitimately ask: what do health, doctors and pharmacists have to do with this? How does the health education and preventive work of health professionals cover this? Professionals have an important role to play in the proper management of medicines for patients, in the environmentally friendly management of discarded products and in the development of correct patient behaviour. Objective: Monitoring of pharmaceutical waste in the general population, understanding patients’ adherence to certain drugs and therapies. Our aim was to demonstrate the similarities and differences in the management of pharmaceutical waste between public and institutional pharmacies. Method: Research in national and international databases. In some cases, we submitted data requests to Septox Ltd., the Association for Conscious Use of Medicines, but our collaborating partners in the research also provided us with a wealth of useful data. Results: By looking at the pharmaceutical waste portfolio, we were able to get a realistic picture, based on a four-digit ATC code, of which products were placed in the public pharmaceutical waste bin, the proportion of medicines and non-medicines, opened and unopened, with or without secondary packaging. We also have a realistic picture of how many medicines have been disposed of in the public pharmaceutical waste bin compared to the number of medicines expedited of in a year. Discussion: Product areas where significant interventions are needed to promote and develop conscious, environmentally friendly patient behaviour are highlighted. Conclusion: Pharmacies, as institutions for patient education, could play a significant role in educating people to use medicines in an environmentally conscious and environmentally friendly way. The implementation of action plans to reduce the environmental impact of dispensed medicines can only be achieved in cooperation with doctors. It would be important to make good use of the evidence and incorporate it into preventive activities to raise environmental awareness. Orv Hetil. 2024; 165(17): 672–679.