{"id":1394,"date":"2019-01-09T07:49:55","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T15:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/?p=1394"},"modified":"2019-01-10T08:11:41","modified_gmt":"2019-01-10T16:11:41","slug":"new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/","title":{"rendered":"New Rules for Hazardous Pharmaceutical Disposal"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In\ncase you missed the news, the Environmental Protection Agency passed new rules\nin December concerning the management of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals. The\nnew regulations are in response to a 2015 study that estimated health care\nfacilities were disposing of thousands of tons of pharmaceutical drugs by\nflushing them down sinks and toilets, creating a hazard for wastewater\nfacilities ill equipped to remove discharged pharmaceuticals and thereby\nexposing fish and aquatic wildlife to dangerous chemicals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Guidelines\nfor HW Pharmaceuticals<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/man-taking-a-pill.jpeg\" alt=\"Man taking his medication. \" class=\"wp-image-1395\" width=\"286\" height=\"190\"\/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The\nEPA\u2019s new rules call for stricter regulations on the management of HW\npharmaceuticals, specifically prohibiting disposal of these drugs in sewage\nsystems. Up until now, it has been customary to flush unused pharmaceuticals\ndown the toilet or drain. While the Clean Water Act was established to clamp\ndown on the discharge of pollutants into waterways, it never addressed the\ntreatment of pharmaceuticals in wastewater \u2013 a problem, given that\npublicly-owned wastewater treatment plants were never designed to treat active\npharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). As a result, antibiotics and antidepressant\ncompounds are finding their way into rivers, lakes, and drinking water\nsupplies, creating a hazard for aquatic species and posing a potential threat\nto humans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All\nhealth care facilities that generate, accumulate, and handle HW pharmaceuticals\nare bound to the EPA\u2019s new regulations, as are all businesses tasked with \u201creverse\ndistribution,\u201d which is defined as a system for managing any unsold retail\npharmaceuticals. Retail stores generally set up arrangements with\npharmaceutical manufacturers to establish a process for disposing these drugs.\nUnder the new rules, reverse distributors will need to ensure the drugs are\neither reused or destroyed at a permitted disposal facility. A partial list of entities\naffected includes hospitals, pharmacies and drug stores, physician\u2019s offices,\ndental clinics, and veterinarians. The rule does not apply to pharmaceutical\nmanufacturers, who must abide by a separate set of regulations already in\nplace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\nis up to the health care facility to differentiate between hazardous and\nnonhazardous drugs and to take the appropriate action. They may choose to work\nwith their waste service provider to ensure proper controls are in place.\nHaving expert professionals onsite will also help with packaging, labeling,\nstorage, recordkeeping, and transportation issues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because\nof the inherent environmental risks HW pharmaceuticals pose, the EPA recommends\nincineration as the primary means of disposal. Consumer-generated\npharmaceutical waste is exempt from the new regulations; waste generated in the\nhome should be collected through community programs and treated as hazardous\nwaste. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In case you missed the news, the Environmental Protection Agency passed new rules in December concerning the management of hazardous waste pharmaceuticals. The new regulations are in response to a 2015 study that estimated health care facilities were disposing of thousands of tons of pharmaceutical drugs by flushing them down sinks and toilets, creating a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"schema":"","placeID":"","no_match":false,"name":"","company":"","review":"","address":"","city":"","state":"","zip":"","lat":"","lng":"","phone1":"","phone2":"","fax":"","mon1":"","mon2":"","tue1":"","tue2":"","wed1":"","wed2":"","thu1":"","thu2":"","fri1":"","fri2":"","sat1":"","sat2":"","sun1":"","sun2":"","hours-note":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>New Rules for Hazardous Pharmaceutical Disposal | ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT | In case you missed the news, the Environmental Protection Agency passed new rules in December concerning the management of hazardous waste\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Rules for Hazardous Pharmaceutical Disposal | ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT | In case you missed the news, the Environmental Protection Agency passed new rules in December concerning the management of hazardous waste\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-01-09T15:49:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-01-10T16:11:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/man-taking-a-pill.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"426\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ascent\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ascent\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Rules for Hazardous Pharmaceutical Disposal | ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT","description":"ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT | In case you missed the news, the Environmental Protection Agency passed new rules in December concerning the management of hazardous waste","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Rules for Hazardous Pharmaceutical Disposal | ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT","og_description":"ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT | In case you missed the news, the Environmental Protection Agency passed new rules in December concerning the management of hazardous waste","og_url":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/","og_site_name":"ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT","article_published_time":"2019-01-09T15:49:55+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-01-10T16:11:41+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":426,"url":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/man-taking-a-pill.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ascent","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ascent","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/","url":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/","name":"New Rules for Hazardous Pharmaceutical Disposal | ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/man-taking-a-pill.jpeg","datePublished":"2019-01-09T15:49:55+00:00","dateModified":"2019-01-10T16:11:41+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a48fa1aa41da1c29cc94d21d838e548c"},"description":"ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT | In case you missed the news, the Environmental Protection Agency passed new rules in December concerning the management of hazardous waste","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/man-taking-a-pill.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/man-taking-a-pill.jpeg","width":640,"height":426},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/new-rules-for-hazardous-pharmaceutical-disposal\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Rules for Hazardous Pharmaceutical Disposal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/","name":"ASCENT: Administrator Support Community for ENT","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/a48fa1aa41da1c29cc94d21d838e548c","name":"Ascent","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d989781765ad4aaeddfde1e4751472ee?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/d989781765ad4aaeddfde1e4751472ee?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Ascent"},"description":"The Association of Otolaryngology Administrators has more than 1 thousand members and continues to be the leader in otolaryngology practice management. AOA serves their membership through successful resources and services offered while striving to keep pace with future opportunities.","url":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/author\/ascent\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ascentblog.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}