In the Republic of Moldova, there is no normative framework that would regulate the gathering and destruction of expired medicines. The Medicines and Medical Devices Agency is the only institution empowered to manage this process. But this entity manages to dispose of only a small part of the unused pharmaceuticals. The rest is thrown to the waste dump.

Annually, over 1 tonne of expired medicines and more than 500,000 packs are destroyed by the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency, which manages to dispose of a small quantity of medical waste collected at a number of national drugstores. The Agency’s director told RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service that the absence of a normative framework does not enable the business entities to intervene on this segment, IPN reports. As there are no regulations concerning the gathering and destruction of expired medicines, most of these pharmaceuticals are thrown away and they pollute the environment, posing a threat to human health.

Last year, one of the drugstore chains in Moldova on its own initiative started to collect expired medicines in five locations in Chisinau and by one location in Soroca, Bălți, Ungheni, Hâncești and Comrat. “We have three different containers: one for expired medicines, one for unserviceable medical devices and one for plastic packing intended for cosmetic and care products (creams, shampoos, shower gels). The people come daily. One person can come one day and ten persons can come the next days. It is different,” pharmacist Mihaela Crețu stated for RFE/RL’s Moldovan Service.

According to international practices, the expired pharmaceuticals, products with damaged packing are collected by drugstores. In Moldova, this practice is not widely used. The director of the Medicines and Medical Devices Agency Dragoș Guțu said that incineration according to European standards is a solution that can help to swiftly and inoffensively destroy expired medicines. The medicines can be burned in mobile or stationary incinerators whose filters prevent the spreading of smoke.

In Germany, Italy, Portugal and Hungary, it is mandatory to take expired medicines back to drugstores or family doctors. Each year on April 27, the U.S. celebrates the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.