Safe household medicine disposal: educating for a sustainable future

Diyan Gunasekera; Ioanna Rossi; Izzy Thorp; Samsor Faizi; Alaa Hassan; Daryan Ahmed Ahmed

Safe household medicine disposal: educating for a sustainable future

Diyan Gunasekera
, Ioanna Rossi
, Izzy Thorp
, Samsor Faizi
, Alaa Hassan
, Daryan Ahmed Ahmed

School of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Chemistry

The Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames
Kingston University

Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › peer-review

Abstract

Around £90 million worth of unused medicines are stored in UK homes, with many ending up in landfill or polluting waterways (BBC News, 2023). Launched in 2025, this innovative pilot project integrated the 3H model of transformative learning into Introduction to Chemical Sciences module (LS3004). In partnership with Kingston Council, Science Foundation Year students addressed the environmental challenge of unused household medicines by designing informative disposal stickers. Supported by the Kingston Pharmacy they learned about the return of unwanted medicines programme and explored the potential of their sticker to promote safe disposal behaviour within the local community.

Original language	English
Publication status	Published - 18 Jun 2026
Event	Festival of Learning 2026 - Kingston University, Kingston upon Thames, United Kingdom Duration: 18 Jun 2026 → 18 Jun 2026

Conference

Conference	Festival of Learning 2026
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Kingston upon Thames
Period	18/06/26 → 18/06/26

Cite this

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title = "Safe household medicine disposal: educating for a sustainable future",

abstract = "Around £90 million worth of unused medicines are stored in UK homes, with many ending up in landfill or polluting waterways (BBC News, 2023). Launched in 2025, this innovative pilot project integrated the 3H model of transformative learning into Introduction to Chemical Sciences module (LS3004). In partnership with Kingston Council, Science Foundation Year students addressed the environmental challenge of unused household medicines by designing informative disposal stickers. Supported by the Kingston Pharmacy they learned about the return of unwanted medicines programme and explored the potential of their sticker to promote safe disposal behaviour within the local community.",

author = "Diyan Gunasekera and Ioanna Rossi and Izzy Thorp and Samsor Faizi and Alaa Hassan and \{Ahmed Ahmed\}, Daryan",

year = "2026",

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day = "18",

language = "English",

note = "Festival of Learning 2026 ; Conference date: 18-06-2026 Through 18-06-2026",

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TY - CONF

T1 - Safe household medicine disposal

T2 - Festival of Learning 2026

AU - Gunasekera, Diyan

AU - Rossi, Ioanna

AU - Thorp, Izzy

AU - Faizi, Samsor

AU - Hassan, Alaa

AU - Ahmed Ahmed, Daryan

PY - 2026/6/18

Y1 - 2026/6/18

N2 - Around £90 million worth of unused medicines are stored in UK homes, with many ending up in landfill or polluting waterways (BBC News, 2023). Launched in 2025, this innovative pilot project integrated the 3H model of transformative learning into Introduction to Chemical Sciences module (LS3004). In partnership with Kingston Council, Science Foundation Year students addressed the environmental challenge of unused household medicines by designing informative disposal stickers. Supported by the Kingston Pharmacy they learned about the return of unwanted medicines programme and explored the potential of their sticker to promote safe disposal behaviour within the local community.

AB - Around £90 million worth of unused medicines are stored in UK homes, with many ending up in landfill or polluting waterways (BBC News, 2023). Launched in 2025, this innovative pilot project integrated the 3H model of transformative learning into Introduction to Chemical Sciences module (LS3004). In partnership with Kingston Council, Science Foundation Year students addressed the environmental challenge of unused household medicines by designing informative disposal stickers. Supported by the Kingston Pharmacy they learned about the return of unwanted medicines programme and explored the potential of their sticker to promote safe disposal behaviour within the local community.

M3 - Poster

Y2 - 18 June 2026 through 18 June 2026

ER -