2023-05-17 18:29:00
Recycling of expired or damaged medicine packaging and waste at SIGRE Points located in the more than 22,000 pharmacies in the country grew by an average of 5 percent in Spain in 2022, according to the latest SIGRE data published this Tuesday.
Specifically, during the past year, an average of 104.4 grams of empty containers or with remains of medicines was collected through the SIGRE Point of pharmacies per inhabitant, managing to recycle 67.8 percent of the materials from the containers deposited. after transporting them to the SIGRE Medicine Packaging and Waste Classification Plant located in Tudela de Duero (Valladolid).
Among the areas for improvement, the survey shows that there is still a lack of public awareness about the importance of not accumulating antibiotics after completing a treatment and disposing of them correctly to prevent them from contributing to the generation and spread of resistance.
There is also a lack of knowledge in part of the population on how to properly dispose of medical devices that should not be deposited at the SIGRE Point, such as X-rays, syringes, thermometers or masks.
The study also collects the opinion of pharmacists on the drug waste collection system, reflecting that 9 out of 10 pharmacists consider that their collaboration with SIGRE is a way of showing society their commitment to the environment.
Pharmacies encourage their customers
Similarly, 94 percent of pharmacists encourage their customers to deposit empty containers and those with leftover medication at the SIGRE Point. In addition, three out of four pharmacists positively value the efforts of pharmaceutical companies to make medicine packaging more ecological.
In 2022, pharmaceutical companies adopted 165 ecodesign measures that have allowed another 94.8 million containers of medicines marketed in Spain to be more sustainable. They are already one of every three containers placed on the market those that incorporate environmental improvements. In addition, in that same year, these measures have saved 1,700 tons of packaging materials.
Throughout the slightly more than 20 years of life of SIGRE, the felling of more than 197,000 trees has been avoided, the equivalent of 11 Madrid Retiro parks; 371 million liters of water have been saved, enough to fill 148 Olympic-size swimming pools; there has been 402 million kWh less energy consumption; and 64.2 million liters of oil have been saved, contributing to the fight against climate change and the reduction of air pollution.
In addition, just with the correct environmental management of the packaging materials deposited at the SIGRE Point, 54,440 tons of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere have been avoided and, thanks to the reverse logistics system used by the pharmaceutical distribution, others have been avoided. 30,000 tons of CO2 emissions.
Finally, according to SIGRE, one out of every three containers of medicines marketed in Spain has managed to reduce the weight of the containers by more than 25 percent since the year 2000 and save 1,700 tons of materials last year, with the reduction in energy and of emissions that this implies in its transport.
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