GPHL held a ceremony for the inauguration of a National Coalition to Reclaim  Expired Medicine on August 12th at Hainan’s Boao Forum for Asia International Conference Center.

The ceremony was attended by officials from the Education, Science, Culture and Public Health Committee of NPC Guangdong Committee, CPPCC Guangdong Committee, Guangzhou Food and Drug Administration, as well as representatives from pharmaceutical companies, including AliHealth and Yixintang.

According to the coalition, they are also taking the medicine recycling campaign. Residents can replace expired medicine for new at designated drugstores by presenting personal ID cards from August 13th to 31st. Guangzhou residents can recycle expired medicine on the 13th and 14th of each month from August 19th.

All expired common drugs, except injections and liquids, can be recycled, whether produced by GPHL or not. Healthcare products, TCM decoction pieces and tonics are not included in the scope.

National coalition

As China’s biggest pharmaceutical company, GPHL first launched the annual campaign of reclaiming expired medicine in 2004. To mark the 15th anniversary of the campaign, GPHL is cooperating with pharmaceutical enterprises nationwide to move the campaign into a higher gear and form a national coalition.  

Broader coverage

Between them the coalition owns roughly 20,000 drugstores nationwide, making it convenient for residents to return expired medicine.

Better service

The enterprises forming the coalition have professional service teams and an efficient logistics management system. GPHL’s experience in reclaiming expired medicine will also help them to offer better services.

Stronger appeal to protect environment

GPHL will join with coalition enterprises to spread knowledge about how to safely take medicine and how to appropriately deal with expired medicine.

Long-termed recycle mechanism

During the ceremony, GPHL held a seminar on “establishing a long-term mechanism for expired medicine recycling”, and invited government officials, coalition members and professors from Peking University to join the discussion.

Liu Zhenming, a professor from Peking University, said more than 80 percent families do not check their medicine on a regular basis. “GPHL has run the recycling campaign for 15 years, and invested tens of millions in this campaign every year, recycling more than 1,500 tons of expired medicine. It has made remarkable contribution to our environment,” he said.

During the seminar, representatives reached consensus and suggested that the government should make policies to standardize the recycling process and to subsidize the recycling and safe destruction of expired drugs.

Li Chuyuan, Chairman of GPHL, said GPHL will continue to develop expired medicine recycling, and that he hopes that more enterprises and residents will join this campaign and protect the environment.

Li Chuyuan and CEOs of coalition enterprises celebrate the 15th anniversary of Baiyunshan’s expired medicine recycle campaign

Reported by Jasmine Yin, Rebecca Tao

Edited by Wing Zhang, Simon Haywood