| Summary: | Unused or expired medications represent environmental and public health risks when improperly discarded in
the trash, toilet, or sink. Reverse logistics (RL) consists of returning drug waste to the business sector for environmentally
safe disposal. The aim of this study was to describe the reverse logistics framework available to drugstore
consumers. Four pharmacies were surveyed, each belonging to a large Brazilian retail pharmacy chain. The
drugstores were investigated with regard to operational, economic, institutional, and educational issues. It was
found that the RL activities for medications are carried out in part, but do not always cover all drugstores in the
networks. There is a lack of both specific equipment for disposing this waste and information on environmental
education for the population. This study contributes to thinking related to the potential for RL of medications as
a tool for environmental education and environmental preservation.
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