Improper disposal practice of unused and expired pharmaceutical products in Indonesian households

Widya N Insani; Nabilla A Qonita; Siti S Jannah; Nisa M Nuraliyah; Woro Supadmi; Vesara A Gatera; Sofa D Alfian; Rizky Abdulah

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04551

Improper disposal practice of unused and expired pharmaceutical products in Indonesian households

Heliyon. 2020 Jul 29;6(7):e04551. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04551. eCollection 2020 Jul.

Authors

Widya N Insani^{1

2}, Nabilla A Qonita^{1

2}, Siti S Jannah^{1

2}, Nisa M Nuraliyah^{1

2}, Woro Supadmi^{1

2}, Vesara A Gatera^{1

2}, Sofa D Alfian^{1

2}, Rizky Abdulah^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia.
² Center of Excellence in Higher Education for Pharmaceutical Care Innovation, Universitas Padjadjaran, Indonesia.

Abstract

Background: Improperly disposed medicines could adversely affect the environment and increase the risk of drug misuse or accidental poisoning.

Objective: To evaluate the disposal practices of unused and expired medicines among the general population in Bandung, Indonesia.

Method: This was a descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted among 497 respondents in Bandung, Indonesia. Data were collected through interviews using a prevalidated structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were calculated using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23. Ethics approval was obtained.

Main outcome measure: General public knowledge and attitude regarding unused and expired medication disposal practice.

Results: Approximately 95% of the respondents had unused medicines stored in their homes, with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), vitamins/nutritional supplements, and antibiotics were the most common types of medicines left unused. The majority of the respondents checked the expiration date of the drugs before purchasing (72.8%). The most common disposal method of unwanted medicines was throwing away in household garbage (82.1%). A significant percentage of them never received information about proper medication disposal practice (79.5%). Furthermore, more than half of the respondents were unaware that unsafe medication disposal practices could harm the environment and population health (53.1%).

Conclusion: Disposal of unwanted pharmaceutical products through environmentally unsafe route was prevalent among the respondents. There is also a lack of awareness of the impact of improperly disposed of medicines for the ecosystem. These findings call upon the strategies to strengthen the pharmaceutical waste management program.

Keywords: Environmental hazard; Environmental health; Expired; Medication disposal; Pharmaceuticals; Public health; Unused.