Naju-si Signs Agreement for Mail-back Service of Unused Medicines

On the 20th, Naju City in Jeollanam-do signed a four-party business agreement with Naju Post Office, the Post Office Public Interest Foundation, and the Naju Pharmaceutical Association at the City Hall Ihwa Room to promote the 'Pilot Project for Postal Service Collection of Expired Medicines.'

According to the city on the 21st, the signing ceremony was attended by Yoon Byung-tae, Mayor of Naju City; Kim Ki-hong, Director of Naju Post Office; Park Jong-seok, Chairman of the Post Office Public Interest Foundation; Lee Young-tae, President of the Naju Pharmaceutical Association; and 12 officials from the four organizations.

From the left, Lee Young-tae, President of Naju City Pharmacists Association; Yoon Byung-tae, Mayor of Naju; Kim Ki-hong, Director of Naju Post Office; Park Jong-seok, Chairman of the Post Office Public Interest Foundation. Photo by Naju City

The four organizations will introduce a collection system for expired medicines using postal services starting next month on the 1st.

The collection methods for expired medicines under the agreement are mainly twofold: direct visits by delivery workers and mailbox collection.

The visit collection method involves delivery workers collecting expired medicines from dedicated collection boxes installed at pharmacies, public health centers, administrative welfare centers, and apartment management offices, then delivering them to designated locations.

The mailbox collection method allows households to place expired medicines sealed in dedicated envelopes into nearby mailboxes, from which delivery workers will collect and deliver them.

This system change was designed to address the shortage of personnel for collecting expired medicines and to increase the currently low collection rate.

Previously, employees of towns, townships, and neighborhoods had to visit apartment complexes and pharmacies individually while managing other duties, which limited timely collection and operational efficiency.

Additionally, many citizens were unaware of how to dispose of expired medicines properly, often leaving them at home for long periods or discarding them as general waste, resulting in low collection rates.

With this agreement, the city plans to distribute collection boxes to apartment complexes and pharmacies and ensure stable processing to facilitate smooth operation of the postal service for expired medicine collection.

The post office will be responsible for collecting expired medicines from both collection boxes and mailboxes through delivery workers and delivering them to central locations, while the Post Office Public Interest Foundation will handle the production of dedicated collection envelopes and the settlement of postal service fees.

The dedicated envelopes for expired medicine collection are scheduled to be produced next month and distributed to pharmacies.

Expired medicines, excluding liquid medicines, can also be placed in regular postal envelopes labeled 'Expired Medicines' and deposited in mailboxes.

Nearby mailboxes can be found using the 'Mailbox Location Finder Service' on the post office website.

The Pharmaceutical Association will promote the distribution of collection boxes to pharmacies and encourage the collection of leftover medicines after use.

Mayor Yoon Byung-tae said, "Many expired medicines are left unattended or discarded because households do not know the proper disposal methods. I believe this is a very valuable agreement in terms of protecting citizens' health and Naju's environment."

He added, "I thank the post office, the Post Office Public Interest Foundation, and the Pharmaceutical Association for their support in establishing a practical expired medicine collection system using mailboxes. We will ensure that this pilot project develops into a continuous program."

Naju = Kim Yuk-bong, Honam Reporting Headquarters, Asia Economy baekok@asiae.co.kr