Medication Disposal Practices and Public Awareness
Summary
Medication disposal practices have emerged as a critical interface between public health, environmental safety and healthcare policy. Worldwide, households accumulate substantial volumes of unused or expired pharmaceuticals, often storing them for future use or discarding them via household waste or sewage systems. Such disposal pathways can lead to contamination of soil and water, foster antimicrobial resistance and pose direct risks to non-target organisms. Despite growing regulatory interest, public awareness of appropriate disposal methods remains limited. Many regions lack formal take-back programmes, while where these exist participation rates are low. Healthcare practitioners, policymakers and environmental agencies recognise that a coordinated approach—encompassing patient education, community take-back systems, prescribing practices and supply-chain management—is essential to mitigate pharmaceutical pollution and optimise resource use. Recent efforts have focused on quantifying disposal behaviours, identifying socio-economic drivers of wastage, and evaluating interventions to enhance safe disposal and minimise avoidable waste.
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Medication Disposal Practices and Public Awareness publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in medication disposal practices and public awareness across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Take-back programme: A structured scheme allowing patients to return unused or expired medications to designated points for safe collection and disposal.
Pharmaceutical waste: Unwanted, expired or residual medicinal products that require specialised handling to prevent environmental release or public exposure.
Redispensing: The process of reissuing unopened, undamaged medications with sufficient remaining shelf-life, subject to quality assurance protocols.
Medication adherence: The extent to which patients take medicines as prescribed, influencing levels of unused stock and subsequent disposal needs.
References
- Medicine storage, wastage, and associated determinants among urban households: a systematic review and meta-analysis of household surveys. BMC Public Health (2021).
- Waste-minimising measures to achieve sustainable supply and use of medication. Sustainable Chemistry and Pharmacy (2021).
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