Remains of medication not in the drain

Incorrect disposal of medication residues contaminates the groundwater

01/08/2014

The disposal of remnants of medicines via the toilet or the drain of the washbasin leads to the accumulation of pharmaceutical residues in ground and drinking water, warns the Federal Association of German Pharmacists Associations (ABDA). A survey by the Institute for Social-Ecological Research (ISOE) showed two months ago that „Dispose of 47 percent of the German liquid medicine remainders wrong, namely about the sink or the toilet.“ Only 15 percent of respondents always eliminate their medication in accordance with the recommendations of the Federal Government on residual waste.

„We need to educate and inform our patients that medicines should be disposed of with household waste“, emphasized the ABDA Vice President Mathias Arnold. Expired and no longer needed medicines can also be delivered to the pollutant collection points and also offer many pharmacies disposal today as a voluntary benefit, so that the remainder of the drug can be returned here (until 2009, the pharmacies were required to do so).

Disposal of the remainder of the medication via the household waste
Since the household waste is burned today, before possible residues reach the landfills, a pollution of the groundwater is excluded when disposing of the old medicines on the household waste, reports the ABDA. However arises „the pollution of the waters not only by the wrong disposal. Other pollution routes are unavoidable, for example if drug residues in the body are not broken down and excreted in the urine“, explained Mathias Arnold. Even if medicines are applied to the skin, the medicines would partly enter the sewage during showering or bathing. An additional burden on the waters by the wrong disposal of the remainder of the drug, it is therefore even more to avoid. (Fp)