Household Drug Management Practices of Residents in a Second-Tier City in China: Opportunities for Reducing Drug Waste and Environmental Pollution
The total amount of drug waste is expanding significantly as populations age and societies become wealthier. Drug waste is becoming a problem for health and the environment. Thus, how to reduce and effectively dispose of drug waste is increasingly becoming an issue for society. This study focuses on...
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doaj-49d365951c4e4656bc01bc5088eb385b2021-08-26T13:49:27ZengMDPI AGInternational Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health1661-78271660-46012021-08-01188544854410.3390/ijerph18168544Household Drug Management Practices of Residents in a Second-Tier City in China: Opportunities for Reducing Drug Waste and Environmental PollutionYumei Luo0Kai Reimers1Lei Yang2Jinping Lin3School of Business and Tourism Management, Yunnan University, Kunming 650106, ChinaSchool of Business and Economics, RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, GermanySchool of Business and Tourism Management, Yunnan University, Kunming 650106, ChinaSchool of Resource Environment and Earth Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650106, ChinaThe total amount of drug waste is expanding significantly as populations age and societies become wealthier. Drug waste is becoming a problem for health and the environment. Thus, how to reduce and effectively dispose of drug waste is increasingly becoming an issue for society. This study focuses on household drug management, which involves five sub-practices: selection, purchasing, using, storing, and disposing of drugs. A questionnaire survey was conducted in a second-tier Chinese city that reveals both problems and opportunities in these five sub-practices. The results show that consumers are aware of significant issues with regard to the safe and effective use of drugs as well as with regard to proper ways of disposing of and recycling drugs. Moreover, our analysis reveals promising opportunities for addressing these issues by developing novel services based on the idea of connecting the five involved sub-practices of household drug management. Connecting and adjusting practices in this manner can be seen as an important factor in reducing drug waste and pharmaceutical pollutants.https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8544household drug managementpracticeenvironmental healthChinese residents |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Yumei Luo Kai Reimers Lei Yang Jinping Lin |
spellingShingle |
Yumei Luo Kai Reimers Lei Yang Jinping Lin Household Drug Management Practices of Residents in a Second-Tier City in China: Opportunities for Reducing Drug Waste and Environmental Pollution International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health household drug management practice environmental health Chinese residents |
author_facet |
Yumei Luo Kai Reimers Lei Yang Jinping Lin |
author_sort |
Yumei Luo |
title |
Household Drug Management Practices of Residents in a Second-Tier City in China: Opportunities for Reducing Drug Waste and Environmental Pollution |
title_short |
Household Drug Management Practices of Residents in a Second-Tier City in China: Opportunities for Reducing Drug Waste and Environmental Pollution |
title_full |
Household Drug Management Practices of Residents in a Second-Tier City in China: Opportunities for Reducing Drug Waste and Environmental Pollution |
title_fullStr |
Household Drug Management Practices of Residents in a Second-Tier City in China: Opportunities for Reducing Drug Waste and Environmental Pollution |
title_full_unstemmed |
Household Drug Management Practices of Residents in a Second-Tier City in China: Opportunities for Reducing Drug Waste and Environmental Pollution |
title_sort |
household drug management practices of residents in a second-tier city in china: opportunities for reducing drug waste and environmental pollution |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health |
issn |
1661-7827 1660-4601 |
publishDate |
2021-08-01 |
description |
The total amount of drug waste is expanding significantly as populations age and societies become wealthier. Drug waste is becoming a problem for health and the environment. Thus, how to reduce and effectively dispose of drug waste is increasingly becoming an issue for society. This study focuses on household drug management, which involves five sub-practices: selection, purchasing, using, storing, and disposing of drugs. A questionnaire survey was conducted in a second-tier Chinese city that reveals both problems and opportunities in these five sub-practices. The results show that consumers are aware of significant issues with regard to the safe and effective use of drugs as well as with regard to proper ways of disposing of and recycling drugs. Moreover, our analysis reveals promising opportunities for addressing these issues by developing novel services based on the idea of connecting the five involved sub-practices of household drug management. Connecting and adjusting practices in this manner can be seen as an important factor in reducing drug waste and pharmaceutical pollutants. |
topic |
household drug management practice environmental health Chinese residents |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/16/8544 |
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