Over 10 Million Sold, But "How Do I Throw Away the Injection Pen?"

[Anchor]

The domestic use of obesity treatment injections is surging, with more than 10 million units supplied in the first half of this year alone. However, confusion is growing as there are no clear guidelines or instructions on where to discard the injection devices after use at home.

Reporter Jo Yoon-ha has the story.

[Reporter]

Injection pens are sometimes sorted out for recycling along with plastic egg packaging containers, or wrapped in kitchen towels and thrown into standard general waste bags.

These are the injection pens for obesity treatments such as Mounjaro and Wegovy that have finished their use.

For Wegovy, where the needle and the injection pen are separate, only the needle needs to be replaced, resulting in one injection pen being discarded per month. Mounjaro is an all-in-one type where the needle and pen are attached, meaning one injection pen is discarded every week.

The problem is that neither users nor sellers know the exact disposal guidelines.

[Pharmacy: You can just throw them away at home. (There is a needle, though.) There is a cap. You should put the cap back on. It is best to discard it so that it is not contaminated. (In the general trash bag?) Yes.]

[Mounjaro User: I was told that I could just throw this away at home in the general waste. I still felt a bit uneasy about it. Since you inject yourself, blood gets on the needle.]

The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment guidelines only contain details regarding needles and syringes, which fall under medical waste, but there is no mention of "injection pens."

This is because Wegovy was launched in 2024 and Mounjaro last year, while the government guidelines have not been revised since they were updated back in 2023.

Then how should they be discarded?

The stance of the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment is that self-injectable drugs fall under "disposed pharmaceuticals" according to existing guidelines and should be discarded in collection boxes installed at local government offices or post boxes.

However, the disposed pharmaceutical collection boxes at community centers state that pills, powdered medicines, ointments, and liquid medicines should be discarded, and there are still no instructions regarding injection pens.

Disposed pharmaceuticals can cause water and soil pollution or induce resistant bacteria and thus must be collected separately and incinerated. However, injection pens, which inevitably have residual injection fluid left inside, have been left neglected for over two years.

[Lee Jong-bae / Member of the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee (People Power Party): The government needs to clearly establish and present disposal criteria to the public so that citizens can know and follow those instructions.]

From their release up to last July, prescriptions for Wegovy and Mounjaro reached 2.7 million cases, and more than 11 million Mounjaro injection pens were supplied in the first half of this year alone.

(Video by Choi Ho-jun, Lee Byung-joo, and Lee Seung-hwan | Video Editing by Kim Jun-hee | VJ: Shin So-young)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.