Adopted practices for the disposal of drug waste and sanitary household products by the high school students

Abstract

The study objective was to obtain information on the practices adopted by the students of the High School of Course technical of Environmental Sanitation and Biotechnology of Cedup Renato Ramos da Silva School, in Lages, SC for the disposal of residues of medicines and household cleaners in their homes. This study was developed by students of scientific initiation of High School (PIBIC/EM). For data collection a semi-structured questionnaire was applied to the students of the respective courses during the period of their classes in the Institution. It was observed that 63% do not have knowledge about the correct procedure of disposal of drug residues and 55.6% still discard the expired drugs in the common trash. Regarding household cleaning products, 90.1% of the participants do not know how to dispose of these residues in their homes, despite frequent use (83.8%). Concerning residues of insecticides, rodenticides and repellents, about 50% of the participants discard the waste in the common bin and 44% do not know how to dispose of these products. Overall, this study showed that High School students from the Environmental Sanitation and Biotechnology technical Course inappropriately dispose of the drug residues and sanitary household products in their homes. Thus, it emphasizes the importance of including the topic about waste management in basic education courses.