Household Drug Management Practices of Residents in a Second-Tier City in China: Opportunities for Reducing Drug Waste and Environmental Pollution

Yumei Luo, Kai Reimers, Lei Yang and Jinping Lin
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Yumei Luo: School of Business and Tourism Management, Yunnan University, Kunming 650106, China
Kai Reimers: School of Business and Economics, RWTH Aachen University, 52062 Aachen, Germany
Lei Yang: School of Business and Tourism Management, Yunnan University, Kunming 650106, China
Jinping Lin: School of Resource Environment and Earth Science, Yunnan University, Kunming 650106, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 16, 1-15

Abstract: The total amount of drug waste is expanding significantly as populations age and societies become wealthier. Drug waste is becoming a problem for health and the environment. Thus, how to reduce and effectively dispose of drug waste is increasingly becoming an issue for society. This study focuses on household drug management, which involves five sub-practices: selection, purchasing, using, storing, and disposing of drugs. A questionnaire survey was conducted in a second-tier Chinese city that reveals both problems and opportunities in these five sub-practices. The results show that consumers are aware of significant issues with regard to the safe and effective use of drugs as well as with regard to proper ways of disposing of and recycling drugs. Moreover, our analysis reveals promising opportunities for addressing these issues by developing novel services based on the idea of connecting the five involved sub-practices of household drug management. Connecting and adjusting practices in this manner can be seen as an important factor in reducing drug waste and pharmaceutical pollutants.

Keywords: household drug management; practice; environmental health; Chinese residents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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