Susana Valente

Practices of pharmaceutical waste generation and discarding in households across Portugal

This work is the first nationwide study in Portugal on pharmaceutical waste generated at households, exploring people’s attitudes and risk perception. The waste audit was carried out from September to November 2014, targeting pharmaceutical products kept by a sample of families (n = 244). This campaign was an assignment of VALORMED, the non-profit association that manages waste and packaging from expired and unused pharmaceutical products collected by the pharmacies. On average, each household kept at home 1097 g of pharmaceutical products, of which 20% were in use, 72% were not in use, and 8% were mostly expired products ready to discard. Face-to-face interviews with householders showed that 69% of the respondents claimed returning pharmaceutical waste to the local pharmacy. However, this figure is overrated, probably owing to a possible ‘good answer’ effect. The barriers identified to proper disposal were mainly established routines and lack of close disposal points. This study also provides an insight into the Portuguese awareness and daily practices concerning pharmaceutical waste, which is the cornerstone of any future strategy to reduce the release of active pharmaceutical ingredients into ecosystems.

Outlining Community Perceptions of Climate Change in Local Adaptation Strategies Development: The Case of ClimAdaPT.Local

ClimAdaPT.Local’s goal was the development of 26 Municipal Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change (EMAAC). The project aimed to increase the capacity of these municipalities to incorporate adaptation to Climate Change (CC) in their planning instruments. To do so, several methodologies and tools were specifically developed. One of these, the local stakeholder engagement strategy, constitutes an innovation as far as the development of these strategies in Portugal is concerned. This paper focuses on this stakeholder engagement process and its achievements. ClimAdaPT.Local’s stakeholder engagement was workshop based. These were put in place in order to understand perceptions of CC, its impacts, local risks, but also survey potential inputs into the ongoing EMAAC development. Each session comprised several discussion tables, intending to: (i) obtain a global reference framework on perceptions and sensitivity to CC at the local level; (ii) complement the vulnerabilities assessment made by the technical staff from each municipality; (iii) inform, adjust and optimise the local adaptation strategies. In addition, stakeholders were asked to share their visions of the future, namely how CC and local territorial identity will be articulated in the near, and not so near, future. The analytical findings encompassed in paper refer to point (i). All in all, in Portugal, there is a widespread perception that CC is happening, in particular among social groups that engage in activities such as agriculture and fishing. And despite being considered to pose a threat, CC is, at the same time, broadly perceived as a window of opportunity to put in place measures that improve local living conditions.