Share to ClassroomPharmacists Say England Throws Away Medicine
England throws away a lot of medicine every year. A pharmacy group says people threw away 3,400 tonnes of medicine last year. That is enough to fill about 75 big swimming pools.
The NHS is the health service in England. The waste costs it at least 480 million pounds a year. A pharmacy cannot use a medicine again after it gives it to a patient. This is true even if the box is still closed. Unused medicine must be destroyed in a special way.
The pharmacy group asks people to order only the medicine they need. It also wants doctors to check people's medicine more often. One expert says old antibiotics at home can be dangerous. People take them later without asking a doctor.
