The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7458 p773
30 June 2007

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• Veterinary pharmacy
• Antibiotic resistance
• Community pharmacy
• Opiate addiction
• Clinical trials
• Retention fees (3)

Letters to the Editor

Community pharmacy

Recycling bags

From Mrs Y. H. Taylor, MRPharmS

Pharmacists should be looking to reduce the wastage of paper and plastic bags containing dispensed medicines.

Most dispensing standard operating procedures include the use of prescription baskets. Could checked medicines be left in the basket until the patient collects the medicines? (This would also allow for visual inspection and counselling, if necessary.) The medicines could then go straight into a recyclable bag, possibly with a slot for a patient medication record card. The patient would have been issued with such a bag, the size reflecting the amount of medicines collected.

I work at an independent pharmacy. However, I am sure that Tesco, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, which are taking positive steps to encourage their customers to recycle shopping bags, would embrace this idea. The large multiples may also like to give it some thought.

Yvonne Taylor
Shoreham-by-Sea, West Sussex

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