[Pharmwaste] per pound cost of technologies

Ed Gottlieb EGottlieb at cityofithaca.org
Thu Mar 9 15:29:42 EST 2017


Hi Barb,

Thanks for the info!

Using your 2010 per pound cost data (roughly: $9 box & $18 mail back) and the pouch cost calculations below, the cost ratio of these three methods is,

                    1 (box) : 2 (mail) : 15 (pouch)

If, as you postulate, the cost for box based take back has dropped (say, to $4.50/pound) and mail back costs have remand the same, the cost ratio becomes:
       1 (box) : 4 (mail) : 30 (pouch)
Added a second manufacturer to previously posted pouch disposal cost calculation:

Used a 200 mg IBU as my guess for an average weight pill.  A 200 mg IBU pill weighed in at:  0.315 gm.
Please note that 200 mg is the weight of active ingredient in the pill.  Pills have binders, coatings, and other inactive ingredients that generally account for much of the pills weight.
Coincidentally, when I called Rx Destroyer, they said they used Advil (same as 200 mg IBU) to determine capacity!

Retail price (Deterra, multiple vendors) for a medium sized pouch that holds 45 pills = $6.50
[I was told by a list serve member the manufacturer’s list price is $5.99.]
45 x 0.315 gm/pill = 14.175 gm capacity =  0.0313 pounds @ $6.50 = $207.67/pound
Assuming the bulk wholesale price is 1/3 less, then $138.44/pound

Wholesale price of 4 oz size Rx Destroyer $100/24 + shipping.
Assuming shipping is $8, 108/24 = $4.50/bottle
4 oz bottle holds 50 Advil
50 x 0.315 gm/pill = 15.75 gm capacity = 0.0347 pounds @ $4.50 = $129.68/pound
If shipping is $12, not $8, the per pound cost becomes, $134.48

My estimate of the wholesale cost to treat a pound of medications using disposal pouches:  $130-140.
Please note the assumptions made (above) to get this result.

Ed Gottlieb
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal
Board Member, New York Product Stewardship Council
Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility
525 3rd Street
Ithaca, NY  14850
(607) 273-8381
fax: (607) 273-8433
________________________________
From: Pharmwaste [pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us] on behalf of Bickford, Barbara J - DNR (Barb) [Barbara.Bickford at wisconsin.gov]
Sent: Thursday, March 09, 2017 2:10 PM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: [Pharmwaste] per pound cost of technologies


In 2012, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources published an in-depth assessment of the full costs, benefits, opportunities and challenges to expanding household take-back programs in Wisconsin. The study established a baseline collection rate against which future programs can be measured and compared costs of the current take-back program with those in Canada and Europe.
Wisconsin Household Pharmaceutical Waste Collection: Challenges and Opportunities [PDF]<http://dnr.wi.gov/topic/HealthWaste/documents/2012HouseholdPharmStudy.pdf>  (The PDF is large, so you may wish to view it on line instead of downloading it.)
The report’s discussion of costs starts on page 7 (page 12 of the PDF).  Based on 2010 data, the total documented program cost of mail back programs was $18.40 per pound, compared to permanent and one day collection programs whose total cost was roughly $8 to $10 per pound.  Due to economies of scale, I suspect the cost of collection programs has gone down since 2010, whereas mail-back programs costs may be about the same.

Some have advocated that disposal pouches can treat pharmaceutical waste and could be more cost effective.  Are there independent tests of these pouches that can confirm or deny any claims that the pouches permanently inactivate the active ingredients of pharmaceuticals?   And does anyone have figures on the cost per pound of using pouches?
Barb Bickford
Medical Waste Coordinator and Hydrogeologist
Waste and Materials Mgt/Environmental Management Division
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
101 S. Webster St., PO Box 7921, Madison, WI 53707-7921
Phone: 608-267-3548
Fax: 608-267-2768
barbara.bickford at wisconsin.gov


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