Don't flush your medications away; turn them in!
That drug residues in water can be harmful to animals that live in it is well known. But drug residues can also cause problems in "making" clean drinking water. The RIVM recently determined for five over-the-counter painkillers how much of the active ingredient enters surface water through the sewer.
Risk
The RIVM finds that diclofenac, ibuprofen and naproxen pose a risk to the aquatic environment. In fact, the proposed European standard for diclofenac is exceeded in half of the sites studied. This could be harmful. Especially of diclofenac, too much ends up in surface water. This is because this painkiller is (also) often applied to the skin as a gel. Most of it washes away through showering or washing clothes. ibuprofen and naproxen also pose a risk to surface water. Paracetamol and aspirin pollute water less. But other drugs also cause pollution of our water.
Less drug residues in surface water
The water quality is under pressure in the Netherlands. At the same time, we are using more and more medicines. Sewage treatment cannot properly remove medicine residues from the water. This poses risks to the water environment and makes the preparation of drinking water more difficult. It is therefore important to prevent medicine residues from ending up in surface water.
Call!
So always return unused medicines to the pharmacy! And that applies not only to painkillers. General call: choose consciously, use appropriately and return them to the pharmacy!