Table 1 Comparison between the policies, collection and funding systems, regarding household medical waste in six selected countries
Country | National drug collection program | Legislation | Collection method | Funding | Medical collected (weight)/collection rates (annual) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
USA | Some programs are run by the DEA [23], specific counties [25], and by local communities [42] | The law enables hospitals, clinics, pharmacies and drug producers to collect unused drugs [22]. In several counties and in one state (MA) there are legislations regarding forcing pharmaceutical companies to fund the collection and destruction of household medical waste [26–28] | Drug collection events, secured drop boxes, collection by law enforcement agencies and pharmacies [23–25, 43] | Usually DEA, law enforcement agencies and NGOs [20]. In specific counties, the Pharmaceutical companies [27] | 0.01 kg/capita [44] |
Canada | Most of the provinces and territories run such programs (See Table 3) | Drug collection events, secured drop boxes, and pharmacies [17, 18] | Varies between provinces (on average 0.01-0.02 kg/capita) [18, 45, 46] | ||
Hungary | The law obliges the pharmaceutical industry to establish and operate a disposal system or give this duty to another organization [15] | Pharmacies and other selling points, containers in specific collection points [15] | Pharmaceutical Industry Groups [15] | 0.02 kg/capita [15] | |
UK | No program | According to the UK environmental protection act and additional regulations, all Pharmacies are obliged to accept back unwanted medicines from patients [48]. | All Pharmacies and hospitals [16, 48]. In addition, there are several local initiatives for collecting medical waste from homes [49] | Local governments [15]. | Not available |
Australia | RUM (Return Unwanted Medicines) [31] | Each state and territory have their own regulation regarding medicine disposal (embedded in the Drugs and Poisons Acts of each individual state) | Special containers mounted in all pharmacies [31] | Funded by the government until end of June 2018; then will be reconsidered. [31] | 0.03 kg/capita [31] |
Israel | No program | No legislation | HMO pharmacies are obliged to receive medicines from the public. | The Israeli Ministry of Health | 13.9 % of the population [40] |