Management of Pharmaceutical Household Waste Limiting Environmental Impacts of Unused or Expired Medicine

Management of Pharmaceutical Household Waste Limiting Environmental Impacts of Unused or Expired Medicine
Author: OECD
Publisher: OECD Publishing
Total Pages: 56
Release: 2022-05-10
Genre:
ISBN: 9264651861

Pharmaceutical household waste from expired or unused medicine does not only offer zero therapeutic benefit, but also contributes to environmental pollution when disposed of via improper routes. Medicines discarded in sinks and flushed down toilets enter sewage waters and, if not filtered out, leak into aquatic systems.

Management of Pharmaceutical Household Waste

Management of Pharmaceutical Household Waste
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre:
ISBN: 9789264315068

Pharmaceutical household waste from expired or unused medicine does not only offer zero therapeutic benefit, but also contributes to environmental pollution when disposed of via improper routes. Medicines discarded in sinks and flushed down toilets enter sewage waters and, if not filtered out, leak into aquatic systems. Disposal of unused or expired medicines via solid household waste can also result in pharmaceutical residues entering the environment if this waste is illegally dumped, or destined for landfills. In addition to environmental risks, unused or expired medicine not only constitutes wasted healthcare resources, but also presents a possible public health risk of accidental or intentional misuse and poisoning if extracted from waste bins. Preventing pharmaceutical household waste and ensuring the effective collection and environmentally sound treatment of unavoidable waste is thus an important policy objective. This report provides an overview of available data on pharmaceutical consumption and disposal practices across OECD countries, reviews existing collection schemes and provides recommendations to best prevent, collect and treat unused or expired medicines in order to avoid their leakage into the environment.

Management of Pharmaceutical Household Waste

Management of Pharmaceutical Household Waste
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2022
Genre:
ISBN: 9789264817944

Pharmaceutical household waste from expired or unused medicine does not only offer zero therapeutic benefit, but also contributes to environmental pollution when disposed of via improper routes. Medicines discarded in sinks and flushed down toilets enter sewage waters and, if not filtered out, leak into aquatic systems. Disposal of unused or expired medicines via solid household waste can also result in pharmaceutical residues entering the environment if this waste is illegally dumped, or destined for landfills. In addition to environmental risks, unused or expired medicine not only constitutes wasted healthcare resources, but also presents a possible public health risk of accidental or intentional misuse and poisoning if extracted from waste bins. Preventing pharmaceutical household waste and ensuring the effective collection and environmentally sound treatment of unavoidable waste is thus an important policy objective. This report provides an overview of available data on pharmaceutical consumption and disposal practices across OECD countries, reviews existing collection schemes and provides recommendations to best prevent, collect and treat unused or expired medicines in order to avoid their leakage into the environment.

Safe Management of Wastes from Health-care Activities

Safe Management of Wastes from Health-care Activities
Author: Yves Chartier
Publisher: World Health Organization
Total Pages: 327
Release: 2014
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9241548568

This is the second edition of the WHO handbook on the safe, sustainable and affordable management of health-care waste--commonly known as "the Blue Book". The original Blue Book was a comprehensive publication used widely in health-care centers and government agencies to assist in the adoption of national guidance. It also provided support to committed medical directors and managers to make improvements and presented practical information on waste-management techniques for medical staff and waste workers. It has been more than ten years since the first edition of the Blue Book. During the intervening period, the requirements on generators of health-care wastes have evolved and new methods have become available. Consequently, WHO recognized that it was an appropriate time to update the original text. The purpose of the second edition is to expand and update the practical information in the original Blue Book. The new Blue Book is designed to continue to be a source of impartial health-care information and guidance on safe waste-management practices. The editors' intention has been to keep the best of the original publication and supplement it with the latest relevant information. The audience for the Blue Book has expanded. Initially, the publication was intended for those directly involved in the creation and handling of health-care wastes: medical staff, health-care facility directors, ancillary health workers, infection-control officers and waste workers. This is no longer the situation. A wider range of people and organizations now have an active interest in the safe management of health-care wastes: regulators, policy-makers, development organizations, voluntary groups, environmental bodies, environmental health practitioners, advisers, researchers and students. They should also find the new Blue Book of benefit to their activities. Chapters 2 and 3 explain the various types of waste produced from health-care facilities, their typical characteristics and the hazards these wastes pose to patients, staff and the general environment. Chapters 4 and 5 introduce the guiding regulatory principles for developing local or national approaches to tackling health-care waste management and transposing these into practical plans for regions and individual health-care facilities. Specific methods and technologies are described for waste minimization, segregation and treatment of health-care wastes in Chapters 6, 7 and 8. These chapters introduce the basic features of each technology and the operational and environmental characteristics required to be achieved, followed by information on the potential advantages and disadvantages of each system. To reflect concerns about the difficulties of handling health-care wastewaters, Chapter 9 is an expanded chapter with new guidance on the various sources of wastewater and wastewater treatment options for places not connected to central sewerage systems. Further chapters address issues on economics (Chapter 10), occupational safety (Chapter 11), hygiene and infection control (Chapter 12), and staff training and public awareness (Chapter 13). A wider range of information has been incorporated into this edition of the Blue Book, with the addition of two new chapters on health-care waste management in emergencies (Chapter 14) and an overview of the emerging issues of pandemics, drug-resistant pathogens, climate change and technology advances in medical techniques that will have to be accommodated by health-care waste systems in the future (Chapter 15).

Pharmaceuticals in the Environment

Pharmaceuticals in the Environment
Author: Klaus Kümmerer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 531
Release: 2008-10-10
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3540746641

Following the success of the first edition, this pioneering study of pharmaceuticals in the environment has been updated and greatly extended. It includes the status of research on pharmaceuticals in soil, with attention to terrestrial and aquatic environments as well as new substance categories such as tetracylines and chinolones and the latest results concerning contamination of the environment and risk reduction.

Energy from Toxic Organic Waste for Heat and Power Generation

Energy from Toxic Organic Waste for Heat and Power Generation
Author: Debabrata Barik
Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2018-11-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0081025297

Energy from Toxic Organic Waste for Heat and Power Generation presents a detailed analysis on using scientific methods to recover and reuse energy from Toxic waste. Dr. Barik and his team of expert authors recognize that there has been a growing rise in the quantum and diversity of toxic waste materials produced by human activity, and as such there is an increasing need to adopt new methods for the safe regeneration and minimization of waste produce around the world. It is predominately broken down into 5 sections: - The first section provides and overview on the Toxic waste generation addressing the main components for the imbalance in ecosystem derived from human activity - The second section sets out ways in which toxic waste can be managed through various methods such as chemical treatment, cracking and Electro-beam treatment - The final 3 sections deliver an insight in to how energy can be extracted and recycled into power from waste energy and the challenges that these may offer This book is essential reference for engineering industry workers and students seeking to adopt new techniques for reducing toxic waste and in turn extracting energy from it whilst complying with pollution control standards from across the world. - Presents techniques which can be adopted to reduce toxic organic waste while complying with regulations and extract useable energy it - Includes case studies of various global industries such as nuclear, medical and research laboratories to further enhance the readers understanding of efficient planning, toxic organic waste reduction methods and energy conversion techniques - Analyses methods of extracting and recycling energy from toxic organic waste products

Green and Sustainable Pharmacy

Green and Sustainable Pharmacy
Author: Klaus Kümmerer
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 312
Release: 2010-06-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3642051995

Within recent years pharmaceuticals have come into focus as contaminants of the environment (see for example Kümmerer, K. editor: Pharmaceuticals in the Environment). At the same time the issue of sustainable chemistry gained momentum. Bringing both together would result in sustainable pharmacy. Sustainable pharmacy is a totally new issue and approach. It addresses environmental, economical and social aspects of pharmacy. In the present stage the focus will be on environmental issues along the whole lifecycle of a pharmaceutical entity. That is dealing with resources and energy input but also with waste issues for example during the synthesis and production of an active pharmaceutical ingredient. Furthermore, it would also look on the compounds themselves and will aim to improve the degradability of the compounds after their use in the environment to reduce the environmental risk caused by pharmaceuticals in the environment. Another issue is the people using pharmaceuticals such as pharmacists, medical doctors and patients. How can they contribute to more efficient use of pharmaceuticals with less environmental burden and less risk for drinking water. The book "Sustainable Pharmacy" will address all these issues and will be the first one dealing with this important topic.

Management of Emerging Public Health Issues and Risks

Management of Emerging Public Health Issues and Risks
Author: Benoit Roig
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2018-11-13
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0128132914

Management of Emerging Public Health Issues and Risks: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Changing Environment addresses the threats facing the rapidly changing world and provides guidance on how to manage risks to population health. Unlike conventional and recognized risks (major, industrial, and natural), emerging risks are characterized by low or non-existent scientific knowledge, high levels of uncertainty, and different levels of acceptability by the relevant authorities and exposed populations. Emerging risk must be analyzed through multiple and crossed approaches identifying the phenomenon linked to the emergence of risk but also by combining scientific, policy and social data in order to provide more enlightened decision making. Management of Emerging Public Health Issues and Risks: Multidisciplinary Approaches to the Changing Environment provides examples of transdisciplinary approaches used to characterize, analyze, and manage emerging risks. This book will be useful for public health researchers, policy makers, and students as well as those working in emergency management, risk management, security, environmental health, nanomaterials, and food science. - Presents emerging risks from the technological, environmental, health, and energy sectors, as well as their social impacts - Contextualizes emerging risks as new threats, existing threats in new locations, and known issues, which are newly recognized as risks due to increased scientific knowledge - Includes case studies from around the world to reinforce concepts