The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7458 p761
30 June 2007

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

NPA highlights potential for waste medicine problem if new disposal directive goes ahead

Pharmacies might have to stop accepting medicines for disposal from the public, according to a warning issued this week by the National Pharmacy Association in Scotland.

The NPA is concerned that this might happen if the Waste Framework Directive is implemented without excluding the low concentrations of hazardous waste found in returned medicines from the hazardous waste legislative requirements.

Billy Templeton, NHS service development manager for Scotland, NPA, said: “The Waste Framework Directive currently states that pharmacists would not be able to accept any returned medicines without purchasing a waste management licence and would need to purchase a waste carrier’s licence to pick up unwanted medicines from patients’ homes.”

He added: “Community pharmacies are already subject to regulation through the Royal Pharmaceutical Society regarding the safe disposal of medicines and additional regulation is unnecessary in our view.”