cf and the environment

[catboogie]

this topic will probably get no hits <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0"> but i was wondering what you guys think about our environmental impact as cf patients? i guess what i am mostly thinking of is all of the trash that is produced...disposable everything, especially in hospitals and for home ivs. i'm sure all that goes into the process of making our medicines isn't that great either.

do you ever feel bad about this? i do, but only when i am in the hospital or on ivs and it is in front of my face (and literally filling up my trash cans!)

thoughts? i also wrote about some environmental stuff in my blog entry today.

 

[anonymous]

Packaging. My life is packaging. Yes, Cat, it drives me nuts.

 

[Scarlett81]

I certainly think about it. And I try to cut down as much as possible where I can. But there's very little I can do about it, other than basic recycling like most people.

And in the large scheme of things-I have bigger issues on my mind. And there are much more wasteful slobs on the planet then me anyway. I look at people that throw their cigarette butts or candy wrappers out their car windows-well its very easy to avoid that. Put it in a garbage bag.

So yeah, waste and pollution does bother me. But all in all, I just think there are many people willfully ruining the earth and dirtying it up where they can avoid it. So-to answer your question, I don't feel to guilty b/c I really can't avoid all the IV bags and plastic syringes and crap I make.

 

[Ratatosk]

I was just noticing this morning the bathroom trash is filled with foil wrappers from tobi and pulmozyme and those little plastic vials for those drugs and atrovent.

Kitchen it's carnation instant breakfast packets -- I mix up a quart pitcher every few days and keep it in the fridge. And most of the drugs DS takes are suspension form -- zithromax in teeny tiny little bottles 'cuz the contents expires or runs out every 7-14 days. Thank goodness they give me the powder so I can mix them up as needed and only have to run to the pharmacy once a month, but still -- lots of teeny tiny little prescription bottles.

liza

 

[ladybug]

Laura,

I actually think about this quite a bit. Mostly, when I'm on colistyn and I open each individual box the individual bottle is packed in and find an individual "information packet" nearly as big as a sheet of paper when I open it. Urgh! So, if I do this 2 X a day for 28 days, that's a lot of unecessary trash.... It mostly bothers me cause one would think they could package it altogether... like they do with nebbed meds that come in plastic vials that you break apart... put it all in one bag with ONE info. sheet, etc.... It really bothers me that pharmacies just dont' seem that concerned with it. I mean, it costs them more money to package things this way too!

Now, I know you have to mix colistyn, so it needs to be in a vial, but I don't think it would take a rocket scientist to find a way to mix it from a vial... much like hypertonic saline. I don't know.

But, I get what you're saying, and it does bother me...

 

[ladybug]

Oophs! I meant to say it bothers me that pharmeceutical companies aren't more interested in reducing thier waste, not pharmacies.

 

[MCPappy]

I agree too. I feel like a good amount of the plastic containers
should be able to be recycled, like med bottles and the little tobi
containers, but can you just put those in with your plastic
recycling? I think if there is a number of ways that the medical
info and packaging could be condensed especially for medications
that we are using twice a day.  (Its sorta like ok i have used
this for 6 years I don't need a packet every month when i get a new
prescription to tell me how to use it. &nbsp<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0">  But at the
same time I agree with whoever said its not like we can help it, we
need the medicines and that is just the way they come.
   Its tricky... My boyfriend is an environmental
studies major so maybe ill ask him what he thinks and report back
=)<br>

 

[Jane]

Many of the plastics can be recycled, as can the cardboard packaging. Check with your local landfill/ dump on their recycling policies. Most plastics have a number stamped on them to say how/if they can be recycled. It is such a waste to have to throw away all the stuff we use. The bags from the g-tube feeds and tubing are what bothers me the most and the syringes from home IVs.