The program began in 1998 as a Commonwealth Government program aiming to give all Australians access to a free and convenient method of disposing of expired and unwanted household medicines.
The success of the program can be seen from its initial collections of some 100 tonnes of unwanted medicines to the current 700 tonnes a year.
Collected medicines are taken to a high temperature incinerator for safe and environmentally friendly disposal.
The need to properly dispose of unwanted or expired medicines is to prevent residuals of the medicines being recirculated into the environment and food chains.
Interestingly, the data from collection of unwanted medicines also can prove valuable.
Monash School of Pharmacy reviewed a representative sample of the returned bins and found the bins were more than 93% full on average, with 44% of the returned medicines not expired.
Insulin, salbutamol, paracetamol, frusemide and glyceryl trinitrate were the top five medicines returned.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 04 Jul 17
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