{"id":26941,"date":"2026-02-23T10:21:54","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/weight-loss-drug-waste-what-happens-to-the-ozempic-pens\/"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:09:51","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:09:51","slug":"weight-loss-drug-waste-what-happens-to-the-ozempic-pens","status":"publish","type":"the-bmj-article","link":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/weight-loss-drug-waste-what-happens-to-the-ozempic-pens\/","title":{"rendered":"Weight loss drug waste: what happens to the Ozempic pens?"},"featured_media":0,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"content_type":[28],"editorial_panel":[],"channel_page":[43],"class_list":["post-26941","the-bmj-article","type-the-bmj-article","status-publish","hentry","article-type-feature","channel-page-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"meta_box":{"the_bmj_article-url":"\/content\/392\/bmj.r2495","the_bmj_article-description":"Pharmaceutical companies facing increasing demand for GLP-1 agonist receptors are struggling to minimise their impact on the environment. Mahima Adey reports","the_bmj_article-the_bmj_article_image":[{"width":150,"height":150,"file":"2026\/02\/ozempic_pens_iStock-2025837738-copy.jpg","filesize":93877,"sizes":{"medium":{"file":"ozempic_pens_iStock-2025837738-copy-300x194.jpg","width":300,"height":194,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":35057,"url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/ozempic_pens_iStock-2025837738-copy-300x194.jpg"},"thumbnail":{"file":"ozempic_pens_iStock-2025837738-copy-150x150.jpg","width":150,"height":150,"mime-type":"image\/jpeg","filesize":25175,"url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/ozempic_pens_iStock-2025837738-copy-150x150.jpg"}},"image_meta":{"aperture":"0","credit":"Getty Images","camera":"","caption":"A large group of injectors \/ dosing pens  for subcutaneous injection of antidiabetic medication or anti-obesity medication on a heap. Selective focus.","created_timestamp":"1708214400","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"A large group of injectors \/ dosing pens  for subcutaneous injection of antidiabetic medication or anti-obesity medication on a heap. Selective focus.","orientation":"1","keywords":["dosing pen","anti-diabetes","injector"]},"ID":"26947","name":"ozempic_pens_iStock-2025837738-copy.jpg","path":"\/dom34810\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/ozempic_pens_iStock-2025837738-copy.jpg","url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/ozempic_pens_iStock-2025837738-copy-150x150.jpg","full_url":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/02\/ozempic_pens_iStock-2025837738-copy.jpg","title":"A large group of injectors \/ dosing pens  for subcutaneous injection of antidiabetic medication or anti-obesity medication on a heap. Selective focus.","caption":"A large group of injectors \/ dosing pens  for subcutaneous injection of antidiabetic medication or anti-obesity medication on a heap. Selective focus.","description":"","alt":"Ozempic pens","srcset":false}],"the_bmj_article-related_articles":[],"the_bmj_article-journal_name":""},"head_tags":[{"tag":"title","content":"Weight loss drug waste: what happens to the Ozempic pens? | The BMJ"},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"robots","content":"max-image-preview:large"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"canonical","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/weight-loss-drug-waste-what-happens-to-the-ozempic-pens\/"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"generator","content":"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 4.9.6.2"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:locale","content":"en_GB"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:site_name","content":"The BMJ | The BMJ: leading general medical journal. Research. Education. Comment"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:type","content":"article"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:title","content":"Weight loss drug waste: what happens to the Ozempic pens? | The BMJ"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:url","content":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/weight-loss-drug-waste-what-happens-to-the-ozempic-pens\/"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"article:published_time","content":"2026-02-23T10:21:54+00:00"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"article:modified_time","content":"2026-02-26T16:09:51+00:00"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:card","content":"summary"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:title","content":"Weight loss drug waste: what happens to the Ozempic pens? | The BMJ"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","type":"application\/rss+xml","title":"The BMJ \u00bb Feed","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/feed\/"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","type":"application\/rss+xml","title":"The BMJ \u00bb Comments Feed","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/comments\/feed\/"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","title":"oEmbed (JSON)","type":"application\/json+oembed","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/oembed\/1.0\/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbmj-chicken.bmj.com%2Fthebmj%2Fthe-bmj-article%2Fweight-loss-drug-waste-what-happens-to-the-ozempic-pens%2F"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","title":"oEmbed (XML)","type":"text\/xml+oembed","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/oembed\/1.0\/embed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbmj-chicken.bmj.com%2Fthebmj%2Fthe-bmj-article%2Fweight-loss-drug-waste-what-happens-to-the-ozempic-pens%2F&format=xml"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"alternate","title":"JSON","type":"application\/json","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/the-bmj-article\/26941"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"EditURI","type":"application\/rsd+xml","title":"RSD","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/xmlrpc.php?rsd"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"generator","content":"WordPress 6.9.4"}},{"tag":"link","attributes":{"rel":"shortlink","href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/?p=26941"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:locale","content":"en_GB"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:site_name","content":"The BMJ"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:title","content":"Weight loss drug waste: what happens to the Ozempic pens?"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:url","content":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/weight-loss-drug-waste-what-happens-to-the-ozempic-pens\/"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:type","content":"article"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"property":"og:description","content":"The BMJ: leading general medical journal. Research. Education. Comment"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:title","content":"Weight loss drug waste: what happens to the Ozempic pens?"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:url","content":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/the-bmj-article\/weight-loss-drug-waste-what-happens-to-the-ozempic-pens\/"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:description","content":"The BMJ: leading general medical journal. Research. Education. Comment"}},{"tag":"meta","attributes":{"name":"twitter:card","content":"summary_large_image"}}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/the-bmj-article\/26941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/the-bmj-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/the-bmj-article"}],"type":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/the-bmj-article"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26941"},{"taxonomy":"article-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=26941"},{"taxonomy":"editorial-panel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/editorial_panel?post=26941"},{"taxonomy":"channel-page","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bmj-chicken.bmj.com\/thebmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/channel_page?post=26941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}