Disposal of household pharmaceuticals in insular communities: social attitude, behaviour evaluation and prevention activities

The increase in medicine and drug consumption have resulted in identifying these emerging pollutants in all aquatic compartments, ranging from surface water and groundwater resources to the marine environment. Pharmaceuticals are an indispensable part of life today. A large number of pharmaceuticals are used in a daily basis in the treatment, prevention, cure or diagnosis of diseases or to otherwise enhance people’s physical or mental well-being. This paper focuses on the evaluation of the attitude of citizens in Cyprus regarding the disposal of pharmaceuticals as well as to identify the main reasons why pharmaceutical wastes are produced. The result indicted that in Cyprus, there is lack of data regarding the amount of pharmaceutical wastes that are discarded into household waste and sinks. The survey audit showed that 86.6% of men’s and 83.3% of women’s used pharmacy with or without doctor’s recipe. Social behaviour is considered to be the most significant reason that pharmaceutical are produced. The results indicated that, citizens mainly keep unused medicines and drugs at home in case they are needed again as well as patients use to cut-off or to reduce their treatment in case that on the first 3–6 days they feel better. The survey indicated that the main disposal method of unused or expired medicines and drugs is in household waste followed from the sink and the toilet. Furthermore, the main disposal solution of unused or expired medicines and drugs remain the household bin as well as the sewage system (sink or toilet), while a percentage more than 55% of the participants indicated that they will follow a specific waste management program if existing in place. Moreover, in order to reduce the production of pharmaceutical wastes, specific prevention activities must be considered.