Boots ‘to count all waste as recycling’
letsrecycle.com is claiming that pharmaceutical retailer Boots is preparing to classify all waste collections from its UK outlets as dry mixed recycling. As of April 2012, all waste from its […]
pharmaceutical waste
Medicines wastage
The prescribing of unnecessary and unwanted medicines places a substantial and unwelcome pressure of healthcare costs, stockpiles drugs in bathroom cabinets that increases the risk of self-harm or accidental poisoning, and bears […]
NHS Isle of Wight drug waste reduction
Drug wastage across the NHS is a massive and costly problem that has a profound impact on environmental contamination and disposal practice. We have discussed the problem previously on the […]
Hospitals dumping drugs down the drain?
It’s a serious issue and the evidence coming from properly conducted research shows that we need to address as a matter of some urgency the escape of pharmaceutical agents into […]
Radiation risks
A load of construction debris set off radiation alarms at a waste station in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Somewhat bizarrely, investigation revealed a rare find – an antique medical kit containing four capsules […]
Healthcare and waste security
Several UK hospitals have been found to breach drug storage security requirements and no doubt after this expose all but the most laissez faire hospital managers will be checking on their […]
No go for Shotts incinerator plan
After substantial delay, “North Lanarkshire Council’s decision to reject a planning application for a controversial medical waste treatment plant in Shotts could result in the loss of 120 jobs. “Last […]
Reducing pharma waste
Cutting costs and reducing waste have been a primary focus for healthcare facilities in the years since the recession hit, prompting many to look into implementing pharmacy process improvement. US […]
Redistributing unwanted pharmaceuticals
Vast quantities of pharmaceuticals are wasted each year, primarily as unwanted ‘trade’ samples and surplus or date-restricted stocks held by small dispensaries. Leaving aside the matter of excreted drug substance […]
Needle-free vaccinations
The use of syringes for vaccination is set to decline, affecting also the volume of sharps waste as work continues on alternate delivery systems for common vaccines. Some oral products […]
Secure disposal of anaesthetic and related drug waste
It is almost invariable that, in the anaesthetic room, the operating theatre, in the Intensive Care and Neonatal Units, in A&E and occasionally in the Imaging Department, controlled drugs and […]
Community pharma waste collection schemes
We make no apology for repeating on the Clinical Waste Discussion Forum, yet again, the news of community hazardous household waste collections schemes operating in the US. Although there are some […]
Changing trends in community healthcare
There are changing trends in community healthcare driven largely, though not exclusively, by the need for cost saving. This places many more patients into the community, from early hospital discharge […]
Drug & needle takeback
The Clinical Waste Discussion Forum generally supports the US concept of community collections of unwanted pharmaceuticals and related hazardous household wastes and, unique to US where no better system exists, […]
It’s all your fault!
Who is responsible for pharmaceutical wastes? For high costs of supply crippling NHS budgets? For drug residues in the environment? Well, if you live in NE Scotland, it’s probably yours. […]
Ill-advised in Ilminister?
The old women’s public loos in Ilminster look set to be given a new lease of life. South Somerset District Council, which owns the property, has spent several months trying to lease it […]
Pharmaceutical waste management
Whether the waste from pharmaceutical R&D, manufacturing, stocking and over-stocking in pharmacies, over-prescribing or patient non-compliance, there is a great need to minimise pharmaceutical waste. The combined aims must be […]
Illicit salvage for re-use
Reduce, reuse, recycle. It seems sensible but in many countries the reality is of illicit salvage of items from clinical wastes followed by repackaging (of sorts) and reuse, all without […]
Prescription drug round-up collects over 250,000 pills
It’s easy done, and very effective. Though there is rapidly increasing concern about teh presence of pharmaceutical residues in wastewater, and thereby in natural waters, little seems to be done […]
Infection following sharps injury
There is a foolhardy and sadly widely held opinion that only the three bloodborne viruses – HIV, Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C – can be transmitted by sharps injury. That is not […]
Farming pharmaceuticals
The use of drugs in farm animals is strictly controlled to prevent the appearance of drug residues in foods for human consumption. Quite rightly, that does not eliminate the use […]
Medicine drop boxes
Medicine drop boxes may be a practical option for the disposal of unwanted medicinal products. Sited in convenient locations, they would receive prescription and non-prescription products removing wastes accumulating in […]
More prescriptions, more waste
Scotland’s GPs are complaining that the free prescription policy in Scotland puts on them extra pressure with patients wanting their free prescription for this, that and the other. Last updated: […]
Waste audit
In a nice piece posted recently on editNet, the SRCL sales & marketing director says that many NHS Trusts have traditionally separated out their waste streams because they believe it’s the […]
Wastewater treatment to remove pharma residues
The removal of pharma residues from waste treatment process waters or more generally from wastewaters from hospitals and nursing homes, from intensive agricultural facilities and perhaps even from community wastewater […]
Legislating drug waste disposal
The proposed US Pharmaceutical Stewardship Act of 2011 (HR 2939) would “set up a nonprofit corporation financed by pharmaceutical producers which would be responsible for establishing comprehensive drug take-back programs […]
Healthcare waste management – a global perspective
UN investigator says medical waste mostly unregulated, often dumped illegally, risks ignored “The Washington Post today quotes a human rights investigator for the United Nations who says up to a quarter of […]
Clean out your medicine cabinet
On the Clinical Waste Discussion Forum, we have repeatedly made reference to the local and regional collection schemes for hazardous household waste that collect from householders sharps waste, some clinical […]
Pharmaceuticals in drinking water
Quite rightly, there is great concern about the presence of trace concentrations of certain – and realistically, about the presence of any – pharmaceuticals in drinking water. Taking the broader […]
Pharmaceutical residues in water
The impact of pharmaceutical residues in water is largely unknown and though the evidence base is slowly growing this is somewhat piecemeal. It remains clear that the key problem is […]