Modelling shows us that the last 50 years of public health gains will be wiped out if we don’t do something now. He has also created his own recycling schemes within his pharmacy. ‘We get a monumental amount of cardboard coming through the pharmacy. So, we always let customers who are moving house to come in and reuse some of our delivery boxes’. Recently, researchers found traces of commonly used drugs, such as antibiotics, in rivers globally. The United Nations chief described the latest Inter-Governmental report on Climate Change 5 (IPCC) as a code red for humanity, saying that unless we act decisively now, we will exceed the 1.5 degrees of warming across the world. 6 He said the message is clear that we must raise our level of ambition to mitigate certain climate disaster, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses.

Smoking is addictive because of the nicotine in cigarettes. That is why it is hard to quit. By starting one or even a combination of the above therapies, they will give a smoker a dose of nicotine in their blood. This reduces the nicotine withdrawal symptoms and cravings, whilst they break away from the psychological habit of smoking. The pharmacists agreed that recycling and waste management are only small parts of being sustainable. However, both said it is still a great way for people to get involved in sustainability and to help pharmacies ‘get into a greener mindset’.

Minor ailment service

Instead of visiting the doctor far away, a patient can visit their local pharmacy and get seen by a pharmacist through the community pharmacy consultation service. That reduces their carbon footprint from travelling.' In September 2021, we formally recognised the scale and importance of the situation by publishing a climate declaration. 1

This month, a study found that switching an asthma patient from a metered-dose inhaler to a dry powder inhaler significantly reduces their carbon footprint without loss of asthma control. Similarly, Mr Rehan said he was allowing patients to reuse the bubble wrap he receives products in.increase your engagement with your condition and medicines, supporting you to make decisions about your treatment and self-management Minna Eii, vice-chair of sustainability at the Guild of Healthcare Pharmacists and co-founder of Pharmacy Declares, adds that community pharmacies are ‘so well placed’ to offer services that stop patients from needing to access further healthcare services, which in turn helps the environment. A spokesperson for TerraCycle told The Pharmacist, there was an ‘encouragingly high uptake’ for the scheme. However, the resources set up at the beginning of the project were unable to accommodate the large quantities of recycling being received. Optimising medicine usage is in itself a ‘green activity,’ Ms Lyons says. She uses the example of counselling patients on appropriate inhaler disposal and use which will lower the need for further asthma inhalers.