55% of South Koreans replied that they just throw away un-used medicines in the trash or flush them down the drain. 36% said they just leave it somewhere in the house.

Until now not a single pharmaceutical company or the government informed the public on the proper disposition of the medication. Then it has the possibility of drug abuse in the household or polluting the soil or drinking water.

To raise awareness on the proper medicine disposal process and participation in a simple way, we used a ‘medicine envelope’ as a media.

Since any customer gets one at pharmacy.

According to OECD, medicine disposal problem in the household is universal.

In United states, 42% of the prescribed medicine is neglected, In France, annually 17,600 tons of medicines is reported unused or expired. (2018)

Yearly pharma volume of manufacture in Korea is over 22.4 trillion won. On 2022, daily average of medicine prescription rose 15% year on year. The rise of prescription medicine follows the rise of neglected medicines. Han River in Seoul is also contaminated by down-the-drain pharmaceutical remains. With 5700ng/L cumulative concentrations observed, which ranks top 30% worldwide.

So we thought we need to raise social awareness on proper distribution and fix the inconvenient in-person disposition process, where one must go to a pharmacy or public health center.

We came up with a new and safe solution. Our campaign will stand as a barrier to the threat unproperly disposed medicines have on people’s health and environment.

In Korea, more than 240 million prescriptions are issued a year. Which also means more than 240 million medicine envelopes are distributed. We thought we could use these envelopes as a channel to inform the public of the proper medication disposal process. We didn’t stop there. We turned the back side into a prepaid postal envelope and made it possible for people to simply put their expired medication in the envelope and drop it off at a nearby mailbox.

Collaboration with KOREA POST raised accessibility on both discharging and collecting process and significantly raised participation of people.

Our goal is to educate people on the proper way of medicine disposal and encourage active and continuous engagement on the campaign by properly disposing the expired medicine.

We thought of an efficient and accessible way of informing the process and letting the patients dispose it properly. The Korean Pharmaceutical Association and KOREA POST who is in charge of Korean postal service joined forces.

We transformed the medicine dispensing envelopes into a medicine disposal envelope, gave it to all who visit pharmacies. Also, we created a process which enabled individuals to get the envelope in any pharmacy in Sejong and to properly dispose the used drugs without contact.

This process first started off at Sejong city, the administrative city of Korea, and later gained support from The ministry of Environment, who sympathized with the campaign and support it all the way.

We selected Special self-governing city Sejong as the target region. Produced the envelopes with the support from the Ministry of Environment, then distributed the envelopes with the help of The Korean Pharmaceutical Association.

When citizens drop the envelope into the mailbox, then the postmen collected the envelopes containing expired medications and delivered them to incineration facilities so it can be properly disposed.

We placed these envelopes in every pharmacy in Sejong. We had in mind that more than 50% of the population in Sejong city is young married couple in their 30s. So we placed additional envelopes at pharmacies near pediatrics.

Also, we aired the campaign in theaters. And with the help of The Korean Pharmaceutical Association, KOREA POST and the local government we also advertised the campaign at public facilities such as city hall, community service center and public offices.

- Expired medicines collected in Sejong city during campaign period: 1950kg (jan~ mar)

* 116% increased YoY

- Korea TV (Public policy broadcasting service) run a special feature twice

-Sejong ministry of Education deeply sympathized with the campaign and started educating elementary student on proper disposal practice. Targeting the younger generation in raising awareness

- The ministry of Environment is considering expanding the campaign to Seoul, the capital of Korea

-The ministry of Environment announced its plans to expand the campaign nationwide through public broadcasting station (MBC)

In Korea, pharmacists dispense prescribed medication inside a paper envelope of the size of a span of a hand. In Korea, it is assumed that more than 240 million medication envelopes is being distributed a year. This is only counting Rx (prescription drugs). All these envelopes are thrown away in the garbage after use.

We started a campaign where these small medicine envelopes enable patients to be educated on the process of proper disposal of the medicines and dispose it in the mailbox with this very envelope. Therefore, contributing to a healthy and sustainable society by solving problems on both expired medicines and used medicine envelopes.