Tackling out-of-date medicines — they can be a serious health and environmental risk

How would you tackle a drawer or shelf full of unused and out-of-date medicines like this?

A friend has been telling us about a surprisingly (to him) large amount of unused and out-of-date medicines he found while doing the always difficult job of going through the home of a recently-deceased relative.

If we’re honest, it’s a safe bet that nearly every house has such medicines. Which begs the obvious question: what eventually becomes of that little brown bottle, tablets, or package, which might have lain forgotten in a cabinet for years?

Research by Behaviour and Attitudes showed that a third of all unused medicines are incorrectly disposed of, with 6% dangerously put down sinks, or toilets. More ends up in domestic bins.

A recent EPA report on the National Hazardous Waste Plan 2021-27 reported ‘mixed results’ regarding implementation of the plan covering these and other materials such as solvents and pesticides. The EPA called for a national takeback scheme for collecting unused, or expired, medicines.

The Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) had previously proposed a nationwide Disposal of Unused Medicines Properly (DUMP) scheme to deal with what it described as serious health and environmental risks.

Unlike health systems elsewhere, we have no national programme to support the safe disposal of such medicines, according to the above-named pharmacists’ organisation.

But, people can take such medicines, which can contaminate water systems, to their local pharmacy — and some civic amenity sites also accept them as hazardous waste.

Internationally, one of the most pressing health challenges of our time is the problem of bacteria and viruses which resist the effects of medicine. Every antibiotic incorrectly disposed of adds to this problem.

IPU president, Tom Murray, said risks are well understood globally and that having a system of collection for expired medicines has been required under EU law since 2004. By encouraging patients to return these medicines to their local community pharmacy, the introduction of a DUMP Scheme could also reduce the risk of suicide, deliberate self-harm, accidental poisoning in children and help prevent environmental pollution.

But, he stated, a stage has been reached where it is not viable for pharmacies to accept these medicines from the public without the State covering the cost of disposing of them.

Mr Murray said the first challenge is to make sure everyone knows the risks and then to make it easy for people to do the right thing.

A project was run successfully in Cork and Kerry under which people can bring the medicines to participating pharmacies. Mr Murray called for it to be rolled-out nationwide with the country’s 1,800 pharmacies being a logical centre-point for any such scheme.

“With the correct funding mechanism in place, pharmacies can implement a DUMP scheme without delay," he stated.