Pregledni rad
https://doi.org/10.31306/s.67.4.5
Risk assessment of the impact of pharmaceutical waste on the environment
Anita Rakić
; Nastavni zavod za javno zdravstvo Splitsko-dalmatinske, Split, Hrvatska
*
Mladen Perišić
; Splitsko-dalmatinska županija, Split, Hrvatska
* Dopisni autor.
Sažetak
Medical waste is generated during the provision of care, protection and preservation of people's health, and as a result of the provision of various services during the activities of which it comes into contact with people's blood and secretions.
Pursuant to the Ordinance on Medical Waste Management, pharmaceutical waste includes all medicines, including their primary packaging, which have become unusable due to expiry, spillage or wastage. Healthcare institutions are the largest producers of hazardous waste because medical waste has a greater potential risk to human health than some other types of hazardous waste due to the hazardous and infectious materials it may contain.
This is why the management of medical waste is extremely important because it contains potentially infectious and dangerous materials. Inadequate handling and management of medical waste can have serious public health consequences and a harmful impact on the environment.
Proper management of pharmaceutical waste as a subgroup of medical waste implies compliance with the legal regulations related to this type of waste. In this way, it is possible to partially monitor the amount of toxic waste that ends up in the environment, but not to prevent harmful substances from reaching the environment, nor its impact on biotransformation and environmental action. In the case of improper handling of pharmaceutical waste, the consequences can be different from soil and air pollution to water pollution. For the processing of pharmaceutical waste, methods are used that will produce the least risk to human health and the environment.
The paper describes the methodology for qualitative assessment of the risk to the environment due to improper management of pharmaceutical waste generated during work in health care institutions.
Ključne riječi
pharmaceutical waste, legal regulation, risk assessment VPR methodology
Hrčak ID:
343182
URI
Datum izdavanja:
13.1.2026.
Posjeta: 211 *