Pharmaceuticals have a major impact on human and animal health, playing an important role in treating, curing, and preventing disease. Pollution from pharmaceutical residues and the evidence of their adverse effects on the environment is well documented and identified by scientists and regulatory agencies to pose an environmental risk globally. Environmental Drug Utilisation Research (DUR) studies and ecopharmacovigilance are needed to support policymakers and other stakeholders in finding measures to decrease pollution at all stages of pharmaceuticals’ lifecycles. DUR data can be used to predict and model the levels of environmental exposure to pharmaceuticals. DUR can identify and describe the extent of medication wastage and issues relating to medication disposal. Strategies to reduce the harmful effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment are increasingly discussed in multiple sectors, and measures need to be incorporated throughout the whole lifecycle of pharmaceuticals. The emerging field of wastewater-based epidemiology enables temporally and spatially localized estimation of drug consumption.