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. Then it can lead to drug abuse in the household or pollute the soil or drinking water.

To raise awareness on proper medicine disposal and lower the barrier on participation, we found the solution in the ‘medicine envelope’ which is a common envelope distributed to all patients at the pharmacy. We made new envelopes, new waste medicine disposal systems, TVC, theater ad and posters based on common medicine envelope.

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, 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.

There is an expired medicine drop off place but nobody is aware of it. It is possible to take the leftover medicine back to the pharmacy but only 8% of the people is aware of the fact.

To solve the unawareness problem, we came up with an idea to turn the everyday medicine envelope into a medicine disposal envelope and decided to collaborate with KOREA POST to gain more access by using mailboxes. This campaign launch was in Sejong city. Which is perfect since Sejong city is the administrative capital of Korea. And for last but not least we collaborated with the ministry of environment in advertising the campaign.

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. The collaboration of each association created a process which enabled individuals to get the envelope in any pharmacy in Sejong and to properly dispose the used drugs without contact..

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.

Sejong city, where more than 50% of the population is young married couple in their 30s. 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.

This campaign has been widely introduced in various news media and KTV (Public policy broadcasting service). Elementary schools in Sejong city began to educate students on appropriate practice of disposing of pharmaceuticals.

- Expired medicines collected in Sejong city during campaign period: 5,170kg (Jan~Jun) * 345.7% increased YoY

-The campaign The Seoul Metropolitan Government, the capital of the Republic of Korea, has implemented this campaign(From 2023.06)

-Naju City has implemented this campaign(From 2023.08

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

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