Photo by Gary Hunscaker
According to researchers at the University of Michigan, drugs may be better off in your trash can than in the hands of your pharmacists. This is surprising data given the programs advertising take-backs at pharmacies, and you would think that the disposal methods used would be “greener” at a pharmacy. Not so. Drugs taken back at most pharmacies are incinerated, which creates more emissions than dumping it at a landfill. But what about concerns that drugs will end up in the water table? The researchers state that the risk would be about the same either way, except that the carbon emissions from incineration are three times greater.
