NHS campaign to reduce medicines waste
640,000 litres of medicines waste was collected locally
A new campaign from the NHS is calling on residents across Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, and Berkshire West to take simple steps to help reduce the growing problem of prescription medicines waste.
The cost of unused or discarded medicines is estimated to be £300 million a year across the UK. Locally, over 640,000 litres of medicine waste was collected between August 2024 and July 2025 in community pharmacies across the region.
Olivier Picard, a local community pharmacist who owns three pharmacies in Berkshire, said: “In each of my pharmacies we fill between fifteen to twenty 50 litre boxes of prescription medicines every three months, that have been returned by patients. These medicines may include tablets, capsules, inhalers, and creams that are no longer needed, have expired or were never used by patients and have to be destroyed - which is a waste of NHS money. Our advice to patients is to only order what you need.”
Olivier added: “When unused medicines build up in the home this can also create a safety risk, so we encourage patients to store medicines in a locked cabinet, where possible, and out of reach of children and even pets.
“Medicines waste affects the environment too, if patients need to dispose of any unused or out of date medication these should be taken to a local pharmacy for appropriate, safe disposal.”