Urged in part by some British doctors, patients regularly return unused medications to local pharmacies, many thinking they are doing something positive as a way to make the draconian government healthcare system function a bit more efficiently.

What they don't know; however, is that those medications are never re-distributed. In fact, they all wind up in an incinerator.

About four times a year private companies contracted by the NHS - the National Health System - go around to these pharmacies and collect so-called "clinical waste" - which often includes unused medications but also other items like bandages, anti-fungal shampoo, painkillers, etc. so they can be tossed into a burn bin and destroyed.