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I've been on antibiotics for the better part of the last month, so I guess I'm doing my part.
Thank you for your service!
You know how we have special waste procedures for used needles and discarded drugs?
Maybe we need to establish special waste systems for people on antiviral and antibacterial drugs.
"Here are your tablets and here is a box to piss into for the next week while you're on antibiotics."
I'm not disagreeing with your point as such, but implementing an entirely separate sewage system is probably impossible and the alternative is kinda gross.
As I said in another comment, the real solution is to reduce unnecessary antibiotic usage.
That's exactly what I'm suggesting. Dry composting toilets have been around for decades. Its a fancy bucket. Very simple to issue at a pharmacy.
When you break a bone in a leg, you leave the hospital with crutches or a wheelchair.
When you take antibiotics, you should leave the pharmacy with a dry composting toilet for your waste.
Do antibiotics decay over time? Like, if we dry compost them for some months or years, can they then be dumped into traditional sewer/septic lines without causing this issue?
All medications should be disposed of separately to other waste. I'm not sure how it's handled worldwide, but my country allows disposal in community pharmacies.
Many antibiotics (e.g. pretty much all penicillins) don't get broken down significantly on passing through the body, so a major source of contamination is coming from human waste and inducing bacterial resistance in the bacteria in the wastewater system.
The real solution here is to reduce unnecessary antibiotic usage.
this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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