Build up the resource saving, pro-environmental society
-“Services promotes cycle” in the pharmacy
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, SJTU, Zeng Hui
Families prefer to use medicine cabinets to store drugs, which help us to keep healthy and
prepare for sudden injuries. However, a lot of drugs haven’t been used until they’re expired.
Moreover, most expired drugs are not disposed of in a proper way. Some stay in the medicine
cabinets until people find that they’ve been out of date for several years. Some may be thrown
into trash. In western countries, it’s common to flush them down the toilet, but not prevalent
in China.
Generally speaking, the ways of disposing of expired drugs mentioned above are not
scientific at all. The reasons are as follows:
a) Kept in medicine cabinets. Some expired drugs possibly become less effective, which is
not very harmful. But to patients suffering serious diseases, expired lifesaving drugs may
delay their treatments and lead to sorrowful consequences. Some drugs can release
toxicants and pose a significant risk to people.
b) Thrown into the trash. On one hand, expired drugs can damage septic system, and
release toxic chemicals. On the other hand, if any of them are scavenged from the trash,
repacked and sold to the public, it must result in tremendous disasters.
c) Flushed away. The dangerous chemicals can contaminate the water and damage the
aquatic ecology balance.
Nowadays, government has realized the problem, and is calling for recycling expired drugs.
These drugs should be collected and burned to dash. However, as it costs a lot to recycle and
burn the drugs, and the valuable things in the drugs have to be destroyed with the toxicants,
it’s not an economic measurement. There must be some way to solve it more effectively and
economically.
The idea of “Services substitute for products” in the book Natural Capitalism gives me a light.
One of the writers, Professor Amory Lovins once said: “What the customers ultimately need is
not products, but services. If we can reduce offering material products, but still satisfy the
customers’ requirements all the same, it’s a good example of cyclic economy.” For example, it
will be welcomer if restaurants not only serve takeaway food, but also promise to recycle the
dishwares. For one thing, customers care the food more than the dishwares. For another, these
promises can decrease white pollution. So far, China begins to think much of the conception
of “Services substitute for products” to realize cyclic economy, but it hasn’t been widely
spread yet.
Learning from this idea, I figure out something to do to solve the problem of expired drugs:
From selling drugs, the pharmaceutical manufacturers switch to sell services, aiming at a new
conception of “Services promote cycle”. In detail, what you really need is a drug-serving
warrant—we call it Medicine IC Card. With this card, you can require for any medications
you want from the pharmaceutical manufacturers at any time. But you have to take these
steps:
First, you need to buy a new Medicine IC Card, using your real name.
Once you get sick and know exactly which medication can help you, you needn’t bother the
doctors. You call the pharmaceutical manufacturers, or order the medication on the Internet.
To start your orders, your password should be validated. Then, you can speak for your
requirement, and then your drugs will be sent to you immediately. Of course, you can get the
drugs you want by yourself in the stores.
When ordering the drugs on the phone or Internet, you should tell them your dosage, so that
you can get them in small batches. On the contrary, at present, we usually buy more drugs
than we need because they’re packaged together.
After you get your drugs, the cost will be deducted from your Medicine IC Card.
If you need Chinese tradition medicine, they will be well decocted before sent to you. The
reasons are not only decocting medicine together can reduce energy use, but also it’s more
laborsaving to collect, refine and reuse the rest of medicine.
The Medicine IC Card can record all drugs you have taken, helping your doctors to make
diagnoses.
If some drugs keep in their original containers after you recovered, you can return them to the
pharmaceutical manufacturers, and they will repay the money to your Medicine IC Card.
This drugs services have striking advantages:
a) Using Medicine IC Card, you can get your drugs more conveniently. You can also return
drugs you needn’t to the pharmaceutical manufacturers, preventing hoarding large amount
of drugs at home.
b) The pharmaceutical manufacturers use professional equipments to preserve the drugs,
therefore, drugs have longer shelf life.
c) The drugs can be delivered directly to the customers, assuring the quality, and cutting
down their price.
d) The pharmaceutical manufacturers can distribute the drugs macroscopically, so as not to
keep them long in stock. It’s easier for them to know the customers’ information and
requirement, too.
e) For a short period, the pharmaceutical manufacturers sell drugs in small amount each time,
not making great profit. But taken in a long program, as they set up the “Services promote
cycle” image, they will attract more customers and promote larger profit.
In conclusion, the idea of “Services promote cycle” focuses on the source to reduce waste,
instead of how to dispose of the used material, or change the waste to recourse. It’s a brand
new way to optimize recourse distribution, realize cyclic economy, and undoubtedly a better
measure to “build up the resource saving, pro-environmental society”.