Climate change is a serious issue and, whilst global leaders can pledge to take action, each of us individually can make a difference. The Daily Telegraph of 1st November has published an article detailing the results of research into the contribution to greenhouse gas emissions from the manufacture of healthcare products.  Without going into too much detail here the essence of the article is (1) NHS emissions account for 5% of the UK's total greenhouse gas production (The Lancet Planetary Health magazine). This equated to 25 mega tonnes of carbon dioxide (MtCO2e) in 2019 (2) Approximately a quarter of the NHS's carbon footprint comes from medicines (3) By contrast, in 2019, UK industry produced 9.7 MtCO2e and agriculture 5.7. (4) For every pound earned the global pharmaceutical industry has to emit 55% more greenhouse gas than the automotive industry (Journal of Cleaner Production study 2019).

The report goes on to say that amongst the worst culprits are drugs overused everyday such as painkillers, antibiotics and asthma inhalers.

if possible do try to read this very sobering article. It lies within our power as individual to do what we can to reduce the waste of unused medication and make our own contribution towards a cleaner, more environmentally friendly world.