A member of my family allowed me to take a peek at his painkiller packaging yesterday. He laughs every time he picks up his huge bag of fifteen Fentanyl patches at the pharmacy. Here’s why…
In this first shot, I’ve placed a red Sharpie in, for scale purposes. The box is not all that big, roughly 5″ tall x 8″ long x 1″ deep maybe (I didn’t actually measure it). What surprises me is that they need a box THIS BIG to house such small medicated patches. This box only contains FIVE Fentanyl patches in it, along with the drug information pamphlet.
So basically, we have a box that holds 6 pieces of paper, one a bit thicker than the others because it’s been folded a number of times. Now, let’s open up one of these individual packets and see what’s inside…
Really? All that for THIS?! I found it rather hard to believe that FIVE of these monsters required the use of a box that size. Just to add some perspective for you, let’s bring that Sharpie in again- the same one I used in the first photo…
The only thing useful to the patient is part of what you see here- the actual Fentanyl patch itself, which shows the dosage in writing on it, after the backing is removed to expose the adhesive. The patch is about 2″ x 1.5″, and even if you include five patches, it’s far less space needed that what’s allowed in its current packaging. This is totally wasteful.
All of this packaging can be recycled, so that’s what this patient does with it. The manufacturer, Watson Pharmaceuticals, puts out brand-name, generic, and over-the-counter medications. You can see a full listing of their at www.watson.com. I searched their site and find no mention of anything “green” or “environmental” anywhere. I see a lot of profit-related info though! 
They’re on our radar now, so we’ll let you know what they have to say about this when we hear back.
Nighty-night, sleep green!
Waste-Knot
~tying ‘em down, ’til they give in for Mama Earth!
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