PP&P’s 7th annual survey of health system pharmacy directors on their approaches to pharmaceutical waste management yielded a total of 392 responses for a confidence interval of 4.78% (95% +/-4.78). More data from this survey can be found in our Going Green supplement published in December of 2014. (www.pppmag.com/goinggreen)

The data demonstrates that managing pharmaceutical waste remains a significant challenge, particularly as few facilities have been able to fully automate the process, often relying instead on stickers and labels to identify hazardous waste. Perhaps unsurprising, those who have simplified the process by disposing of all waste as hazardous report the highest satisfaction rates. Likewise, working with consulting services, such as Stericycle and Clean Harbors, remains a popular approach for developing RCRA-characteristic waste programs.