Citation: Banjar, H.; Alrowithi, R.;
Alhadrami, S.; Magrabi, E.; Munshi,
R.; Alrige, M. An Intelligent System
for Proper Management and Disposal
of Unused and Expired Medications.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022,
19, 2875. https://doi.org/10.3390/
ijerph19052875
Academic Editors: Keun Ho Ryu and
Nipon Theera-Umpon
Received: 23 December 2021
Accepted: 25 February 2022
Published: 1 March 2022
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International Journal of
Environmental Research
and Public Health
Article
An Intelligent System for Proper Management and Disposal of
Unused and Expired Medications
Haneen Banjar
1,2,
* , Rahaf Alrowithi
1
, Sara Alhadrami
1
, Esraa Magrabi
1
, Reema Munshi
3
and Mayda Alrige
4
1
Computer Science Department, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology,
King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80221, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia;
ralrowithi0002@stu.kau.edu.sa (R.A.); salhadrami0006@stu.kau.edu.sa (S.A.); emaghrbi@stu.kau.edu.sa (E.M.)
2
Centre of Artificial intelligence in Precision Medicines, King Abdulaziz University,
Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia
3
Clinical Pharmacy Department, College of Pharmacy, Umm al-Qura University, Makkah 21961, Saudi Arabia;
remrem.munshi@gmail.com
4
Information System Department, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology,
King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; malraegi@kau.edu.sa
* Correspondence: hrbanjar@kau.edu.sa
Abstract:
For years, several countries have been concerned about how to dispose of unused phar-
maceuticals that can endanger human health and the environment. Moreover, some people are in
desperate need of medical attention and medications, but they lack the financial resources to obtain
them. In Saudi Arabia, there are no take-back medicine programs, and there is no published research
on how medications properly are disposed. The aim of this research is to use the power of artificial
intelligence to assist in the proper management and disposal of expired and unused medications and
to develop a prototype device for collecting medication by automatically classifying medications for
proper disposal and donation. In this research, artificial intelligence technologies such as web-based
expert systems, image recognition and classification algorithms, chatbots, and the internet of things
are used to assist in a take-back medications program. In conclusion, the prototype design of a
web-based expert system and the device reduced improper disposal risks by providing significant
advice on the safe disposal of unwanted pharmaceuticals. By using an organized method of collecting
expired medications, the benefits were made possible.
Keywords:
disposal of medication; web-based expert system; chatbot; image classification; donation
device; take-back medication program
1. Introduction
Medication wastage can be reduced, resulting in more cost-effective spending, which
the Ministry of Health wants to achieve in line with Saudi Arabia’s 2030 economic re-
form program [
1
]. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated the
medicines’ disposal instructions. The “misuse” of prescription drugs is one of the behaviors
that are on the rise in the United States [
2
]. Consequently, there is considerable pharma-
ceutical waste but there are no accurate and current statistics available. The waste of these
drugs has caused biological and ethical problems that should be understood from different
perspectives. Alnahas et al. [
3
] demonstrated that the German Federal Ministry for the
Environment has made it clear that pharmaceutical organizations in both the industrialized
and developing world offer a variety of synthetic chemicals at a rate of 100,000 tons per
year. From this, a small fraction is used while a larger fraction will be unused and/or
expired resulting in a large value of pharmaceutical waste. The authors also reported a
cross-sectional study in 2001 that estimated more than 1 billion unused drugs produced
each year by the American population alone. Moreover, the presence of small amounts of
active pharmaceutical ingredients in the soil and waterways could impact the environment.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 2875. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052875 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
