Pharmaceutical products are an important part of disease management.These drugs all have an expiry date beyond which they become toxic rather than therapeutic. Pharmaceutical disposal refers to the process involved in getting rid of drugs that are no longer needed or are expired. To ensure proper disposal by consumers and health institutions, guidelines have made available to all authorities that need them. Most medicines in California can be discarded together with the household trash but only if the label says so.
Disposal guidelines come in handy for donations since they are highly prone to wastage. This is because the packages may come written in a language that cannot be understood by the recipients. The package may also be delivered when it is almost expired thus limiting utilization. On the other hand, packages with long shelf life may be misused by opportunistic recipients. Also, the destination facility may not have capacity to effectively store the supplies.
Guidelines are therefore very important for management of donation related drugs. Expiry date of these donation may within one year or more from the time of shipment to the donation. Giving out drugs whose shelf life is less than a year is only beneficial to destination areas that have good storage systems.
The choice of what technique to use in disposal should factor in the risk of exposing the public to environmental toxins. An ideal choice that minimizes environmental pollution is using incineration. Burning is done at very high temperatures of at least one thousand two hundred degrees Celsius. Alternative methods can be employed in low resource settings. Burning in the open is discouraged as it releases toxic gases into the air. Packaging material in form of paper (but not plastic)r can be burnt.
To ensure safety, all individuals taking part in the disposal procedure must wear gloves, masks, boots, overalls and other protective wear as deemed necessary. Masks are particularly appropriate when crushing tablets to avoid powder splashing into the eyes. Sorting should be done to identify drugs which are still in good to be used again and those that need discarding. Disposable ones are sorted out further according to what method is to be used for disposal.
A method known as land filling is common method of waste disposal in low resource settings. In this technique, waste is disposed off at a given site and left to accumulate. This however poses the risk of pollution to the environment. Apart from that, opportunists may hang around and reclaim harmful drugs such as narcotics. Disposers should therefore consider setting up security if their purpose of successful disposal is to be achieved.
Alternatively, expired medication can be collected in a container until it is approximately seventy five percent full after which additional harmless material fills up the container forming a block. This material may be in form of lime combined with cement or plain cement. Care should be taken that not potential explosives are present in the containers.
Sewerage systems can also be used as a way of discarding medication. However this may only be limited to a few drugs such as syrups and intravenous fluids. Some antibiotics are not biodegradable and should not be allowed into sewers as they consume bacterial meant for treating the sewage. Similarly, drugs for treating cancer should not be flushed down into water systems as they end up destroying aquatic animals and contaminate water for drinking.
Disposal guidelines come in handy for donations since they are highly prone to wastage. This is because the packages may come written in a language that cannot be understood by the recipients. The package may also be delivered when it is almost expired thus limiting utilization. On the other hand, packages with long shelf life may be misused by opportunistic recipients. Also, the destination facility may not have capacity to effectively store the supplies.
Guidelines are therefore very important for management of donation related drugs. Expiry date of these donation may within one year or more from the time of shipment to the donation. Giving out drugs whose shelf life is less than a year is only beneficial to destination areas that have good storage systems.
The choice of what technique to use in disposal should factor in the risk of exposing the public to environmental toxins. An ideal choice that minimizes environmental pollution is using incineration. Burning is done at very high temperatures of at least one thousand two hundred degrees Celsius. Alternative methods can be employed in low resource settings. Burning in the open is discouraged as it releases toxic gases into the air. Packaging material in form of paper (but not plastic)r can be burnt.
To ensure safety, all individuals taking part in the disposal procedure must wear gloves, masks, boots, overalls and other protective wear as deemed necessary. Masks are particularly appropriate when crushing tablets to avoid powder splashing into the eyes. Sorting should be done to identify drugs which are still in good to be used again and those that need discarding. Disposable ones are sorted out further according to what method is to be used for disposal.
A method known as land filling is common method of waste disposal in low resource settings. In this technique, waste is disposed off at a given site and left to accumulate. This however poses the risk of pollution to the environment. Apart from that, opportunists may hang around and reclaim harmful drugs such as narcotics. Disposers should therefore consider setting up security if their purpose of successful disposal is to be achieved.
Alternatively, expired medication can be collected in a container until it is approximately seventy five percent full after which additional harmless material fills up the container forming a block. This material may be in form of lime combined with cement or plain cement. Care should be taken that not potential explosives are present in the containers.
Sewerage systems can also be used as a way of discarding medication. However this may only be limited to a few drugs such as syrups and intravenous fluids. Some antibiotics are not biodegradable and should not be allowed into sewers as they consume bacterial meant for treating the sewage. Similarly, drugs for treating cancer should not be flushed down into water systems as they end up destroying aquatic animals and contaminate water for drinking.
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