European proposals provide opportunity to solve practical issues on hazardous waste
European
proposals to repeal the Hazardous Waste Directive and integrate it into the Waste Framework Directive are being investigated by the National Pharmacy Association with a view to making waste handling in pharmacies easier.
In its response to a European consultation on the matter, the NPA says
that the low concentrations of hazardous waste encountered in medicines
returned to pharmacies for disposal should mean that it is exempt from
hazardous waste controls.
“Members of the public cannot be expected to sort their unwanted
medicines in order to separate out the hazardous medicines for separate
disposal,” the
response says. “It is also completely impractical and against health
and safety guidelines to sort medicines in the pharmacy at the time of
return by the patient to ensure that no hazardous medicines are included.
The repeal of the Hazardous Waste Directive and its integration into
the revised WFD provides an opportunity for the practical problems associated
with hazardous waste currently affecting community pharmacies to be resolved.”
The NPA also wants pharmacies to be exempt from the need to hold waste
carriers licences if they collect unwanted medicines from patients’ homes
or nursing homes, and to be exempt from waste inspections because their
handling of returned medicines is already subject to inspection by the
Royal Pharmaceutical Society and by NHS primary care organisations. |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal
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