Aspects Regarding the Pharmaceutical Waste Management in Romania

Abstract

The issue of drug disposal, as well as the development and implementation of efficient collection strategies, represents an important concern at the highest European level. This research looks into the factors that could have an impact on the efficiency of pharmacies in collecting and disposing the medicinal waste of the population. There were 521 pharmacists from all over the country who filled in a questionnaire on their opinion/attitude related to the system of collecting and disposing the pharmaceutical waste of the population. Of the surveyed pharmacists, 16% work in pharmacies that do not collect unused/expired drugs from the population, and nearly 33% of those investigated have refused, at least once, to take the unused medicines from the people. Pharmacists' most important reasons for refusing to collect the pharmaceutical waste were the lack of procedure, incomplete legislation, exceeding the amount contracted with the operators, and high costs. Results show that pharmacies in Romania face several deficiencies in the pharmaceutical waste collection services. The lack of implemented programs has contributed considerably to lower standards of pharmaceutical waste management in Romania. This study is the first research on this topic in Romania, a country where the management of drug-based waste generated by the population is at the beginning. The results shown in this survey can provide a reference point for competent authorities in developing and implementing a take-back program for waste medicine whose efficiency is superior to the existing ones.

Reverse Logistics of Postconsumer Medicines: The Roles and Knowledge of Pharmacists in the Municipality of São Paulo, Brazil

“…These results found in the São Paulo city were in accordance with those of Bungau et al, who interviewed five hundred and twenty-one pharmacists regarding their opinions and attitudes regarding the system of collecting and disposing off pharmaceutical wastes from the consumers, in Romania. According to the authors of the surveyed pharmacists of Romania, 16% worked in pharmacies that did not collect unused/expired drugs from the population, and 33% have refused, at least once, to take the unused medicines from the consumers [53]. The most important reasons given by the pharmacists, for refusing to collect pharmaceutical waste, were the lack of procedures, incomplete legislation, the amount that were contracted for with the operators, and the high costs.…”

“…The results showed that pharmacies in Romania have several deficiencies in pharmaceutical waste collection services, like in Brazil. The lack of implemented programs has contributed considerably to the lower standards found in pharmaceutical waste management in Romania [53].…”

Is agro-tourism eco-friendly?

“…In this paper the authors attempted to clarify the relationship between the agrotourism activities and environment. The extent to which succeeded this, it is up to the potential users of the model [27].…”

Combating the Erosion Phenomenon. The Decanting Pondfromfânaţe Village, Bihor County, Romania−Case Study

“…On a global scale, it is estimated that around 10 billion tonnes of soil is eroded annually through natural processes, but man-made erosion is 2.5 times more intense -26 billion tonnes/year. This phenomenon is a direct consequence of the inappropriate exploitation of the soil, but also of its pollution.Anthropogenic activities such as industrial, mining, agricultural and household, and the inappropriate disposal of wastes result in the accumulation of some pollutants in the soil surface, causing serious damage to the environment [5][6][7][8][9].In the last decades, the quantities of fertilizers used in agriculture [10] have increased considerably.This can lead to the alteration and deterioration of soil properties and structure [11,12], with direct consequences on the quality and quantity of active and nutritive principles in grown plants [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Romania has a long history of mining useful substances such as gold, copper, lead, zinc, silver, manganese, salt and coal.However, due to the deplorable years of exploitation of the environment and mineral extraction technologies, mines and related ore processing industries have affected the environment in a negative way, resulting in an important burden on the water, air and soil of ecosystems [3,[23][24][25][26].…”