Adana Chamber of Pharmacists President Emphasized the Correct Collection and Use of Waste Medicines at Home

Ezgi Elekarışmaz, President of Adana Chamber of Pharmacists, said that unused and expired medicines accumulated at home should be collected and destroyed correctly in order not to harm the environment and water resources.

Elekarışmaz stated that people taking more medicine than they need due to the concern of not being able to find medicine, the increase in chronic diseases and unconscious drug use increase the amount of waste medicine in homes, and stated that unused medicines can be left in the waste medicine boxes in pharmacies.

“WE ESTIMATE THAT THERE ARE TONS OF WASTE MEDICINE IN TURKEY”

Stating that there are data on the amount of domestic waste medicine exceeding 200 tons per million people in Europe, Elekarışmaz said that the exact amount is unknown because the collection system is not used widely enough in Turkey.

Elekarışmaz said, "As pharmacist chambers, our aim is to disseminate this system so that our household waste medicines do not mix with our waters, environment and nature. If we put the household waste medicine project into a correct system and disseminate this information to our people, we can access this data accurately. But of course, we estimate that there are tons of this waste in Turkey."

“WE SHOULD USE MEDICINE AS MUCH AS WE NEED”

Pointing out the importance of rational drug use in order to reduce the amount of waste medicine, Elekarışmaz stated that medicines not used at home should not be re-prescribed and medicines should be monitored regularly.

Elekarışmaz said, "It is necessary not to print the medicines we do not use at home, to keep track of the medicines correctly, to regularly prepare our medicine cabinet at home and use as much medicine as we need. By not using the 'medicine the neighbor tells us' or by determining our own medicines correctly, we can keep the accumulated medicine at home at the right level."

HE TAKES THE MEDICATIONS HE DOESN'T USE TO THE PHARMACY

73-year-old Mehmet Utar, who explained that the medications he did not use due to chronic illnesses accumulated at his home from time to time, said that he left his medications in the collection box at the pharmacy instead of throwing them in the trash.

Utar said, "The medications I cannot use because my illnesses are constantly changing are left at home and accumulate. Sometimes our doctors change our medications. I do not throw away my excess and expired medications, I bring them to the pharmacy. I throw them in the waste bins here."