Nordic Life Science 1
NORDIC EFFORTS TO REDUCE PHARMA WASTE in our wate
rs Lif Sweden is engaged in efforts to reduce emissions of pharma residues in the waters. We asked Bengt Mattson, Policy Manager, Lif Sweden, about their projects and efforts. T E X T B Y HOWARD BENNETT COULD YOU TELL US about this work or something specific that you’re working on right now? “The first area we moved into was the correct use and disposal of unused medicines. In the nineties, Lif worked closely with the Swedish pharmacy association, or the pharmacy monopoly in those days, Apotek AB. After the deregulation of the pharmacy sector, we continued their work by providing information on how to correctly dispose of unused medicine and ensure people do not flush them down the drain, and that medicines must go back to the pharmacy. In 2005, Lif collaborated with Apotek bolaget and the Stockholm County Council to develop a classification scheme for pharmaceutical substances.” “IVL, the Swedish Environmental Research Institute is the impartial reviewer 70 | NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG of all the environmental information that the pharmaceutical companies share on fass.se. It’s still unique, the only one in the world. The idea behind that is to identify substances that may pose a risk to the environment, if, for example, they enter water systems from patient excretion. The same knowledge is valid when it comes to discharge from manufacturing facilities. That’s the next phase.” “When we first looked at unused medicines, we talked about patient excretion here in Sweden. And then since 2007, we have worked with IVL and other stakeholders on manufacturing releases. The work today is done through our European Trade Associations. Lif is a member of both the European Self-Care Association (AESGP) and the Innovative Pharmaceutical European Association (EFPIA), and I’m the chairman of their Joint Task Force on Pharmaceuticals in the Environment. Together we have developed the Eco Pharmaco Stewardship Initiative. One of the pillars is manufacturing effluent management, for which we have developed an extensive guidance document on how both our member companies and our suppliers should ensure that we do not have any unacceptable medicinal releases from manufacturing operations. That work is the focus right now.” What are the legal requirements when it comes to this issue? “There are two things here. In manufacturing operations, you will always have environmental permits with conditions on the release of organic compounds through wastewater. That’s the legal framework for manufacturing operations. Then there is