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Dangerous waste
Spain's National Waste Plan regards medicine as special domestic waste and even qualifies some pharmaceutical products as dangerous waste. Also, new substances are constantly being launched, whose long and medium-term effects are unknown. For this reason, medicine must not be thrown into the rubbish bin, whether out of date or not. The packaging of medicinal products also should not be thrown away with glass, paper or plastic waste because it could contain traces of the medicine.

Although medicinal contamination remains a little investigated phenomenon, experts from John Hopkins University in Baltimore (US) have already warned that even medicinal traces of such common products as painkillers and anti-depressants that are eliminated via urination can adversely affect marine life. With this in mind, the devastating effect of pharmaceutical products that are directly discarded into the environment without any form of control is easy to imagine. According to Vï¿½ctor de Lorenzo, professor of investigation of the CSIC, antiobiotics and synthetic products with hormonal effects are one of the planet's main contaminating threats.

During many years the most ecological way of getting rid of out-of-date medicine was to take it back to the chemist, who in turn donated any medicine in good condition to charities such as Farmaceï¿½ticos Mundi or Farmacï¿½uticos Sin Fronteras in Spain, a far more adequate destination than our rubbish bin. Thanks to this initiative, Farmacï¿½uticos Mundi for example, has donated over 500 tons of medical products to over 80 countries since its foundation in 1991.

Third World donations
However, sometimes good intentions aren't enough. To give one example, out of 35,000 tons of medical products sent to Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1992 to 1996, 17,000 were not valid and should have been eliminated. With the money needed to do this correctly, some 30 million euros, the basic health requirements of two million refugees can be covered for 5 years. With such examples in mind, in 1999 the World Health Organization banned the donation of old medication and encouraged the pharmaceutical industry to collaborate with these countries in a more orthodox fashion by sending original medication.

Fortunately this same year the so-called Sigre program was launched by the pharmaceutical industry in conjuction with the official medical schools and the distributors as a reply to an EU directive on packaging, included in the current Packaging and Packaging Waste Law. Under the slogan For nature's health, Sigre aims to not only recycle packaging material, but also to eliminate medical products by guaranteeing the health of both people and the environment

Thanks to Sigre, all we need do to get rid of out-of-date medicine or an empty medicinal packet is take it to the nearest chemist and deposit it into the special container. However, remember you cannot deposit X-rays, thermometers, artificial limbs, needles, bandages or sharp objects.

Around a hundred distributors from all of Spain deliver all the container bags to a single selection plant in Orense, where the first trial took place. The card of the packaging is then saved, along with the paper of the instructions, the glass of the medicine bottles or the aluminium of the cream containers. This is then send to specialized plants to be recycled. Around 20 to 25% of the containers are suitable for recycling. The rest, once classified, are eliminated by authorised waste managers who ensure their correct treatment according to the current legislation. This process ensures that a product that was born to cure converts itself into a source of contamination and sickness.