Sheffield residents are being encouraged to return any unused or unwanted medicines to a pharmacy in a bid to reduce harm to the environment and ourselves.
The Sheffield Medicines Optimisation Team at NHS South Yorkshire with support from Sheffield City Council have launched the medicines amnesty campaign this week (15 July 2024) to inform people of how and why we all need to dispose of medications safely.
Dr Honey Smith, NHS South Yorkshire Clinical Sustainability Lead and Sheffield GP said: “Returning unwanted medicines to a local pharmacy is a simple action that we can all take to make sure we do everything we can to protect nature and ourselves.
“Medication put in bins, or flushed down toilets, gets into our soil and pollutes waterways, causing risk to wildlife and to us all. The harm can include stopping antibiotics working properly when we need them and causing a build-up of chemicals and hormones in fish that we may eat.
“If you have medication in your house that is out of date or you are never going to use, please return it to any pharmacy for safe disposal. This includes any products with medication in them, such as creams, liquids, medicine bottles or used patches.”
NHS South Yorkshire also say it is particularly important to return empty or unwanted inhalers to a pharmacy as if they are not disposed of correctly, the gases in some inhalers continue to cause greenhouse gas emissions for many years after the medication is used up.
Dr Honey Smith continued: “I would encourage everyone to please check your cupboards, drawers and cabinets for any old or unused medicines and get them to your nearest pharmacy who will dispose of them safely for you.”
