When medicines enter the environment, they harm living species and ecosystems. Improper disposal of household pharmaceutical waste increases the concentration of pharmaceuticals in the environment and thus their detrimental impacts. Since 2004, the EU has obliged its Member States to establish ‘an appropriate collection system’ for unused and/or expired medication. However, as no implementation guidelines exist, large differences in the systems and their use remain. Pressure for adoption of guidelines harmonising the systems across the EU has been increasing. We address the question whether such harmonisation could mitigate pharmaceutical pollution, and which regulatory measures would be appropriate. To answer this, we conduct a comparative investigation of the systems’ regulation and an empirical study of citizens’ beliefs and behaviour across four European countries. We find a potential for increasing the effectiveness of pharmaceutical take-back systems through their harmonisation and conclude that the EU has the competence and tools to regulate this.

当药物进入环境时，它们会损害生物物种和生态系统。家庭药品废物处置不当会增加环境中药品的浓度，从而产生有害影响。自 2004 年以来，欧盟要求其成员国建立“适当的收集系统”来收集未使用和/或过期的药物。然而，由于不存在实施指南，系统及其使用方面仍然存在很大差异。要求采用协调整个欧盟系统的指导方针的压力一直在增加。我们解决这样的问题：这种协调是否可以减轻药品污染，以及哪些监管措施是适当的。为了回答这个问题，我们对四个欧洲国家的制度监管进行了比较调查，并对公民的信仰和行为进行了实证研究。我们发现通过协调药品回收系统有可能提高其有效性，并得出结论认为欧盟有能力和工具来监管这一问题。