Australians are popping way too many pills and it is not just bad for the population, it is also increasingly bad for the environment.

Antibiotics, painkillers, heart drugs, oral contraceptives and anti-depressants are just some of the drugs being swallowed and excreted or thrown away, and they are slowly building up to "alarming" levels in river systems and marine sediments around the world, according to a new report.

The report by the National Toxics Network, entitled "Pharmaceutical pollution in the environment: issues for Australia, New Zealand and Pacific Regions", has warned that the drugs are ending up in the water and soil through treated and untreated sewage being used as fertiliser, and there are no checks on accumulating levels.

It is one of the first reports of its kind to bring together and examine available data, which shows multiple drugs are in biosolids and treated waste water being used as fertiliser and are turning up in river and marine sediments in Australia.

The author of the report, Dr Kirstie Murdoch, who has a PhD in molecular and cellular biology, said antibiotics are of "particular concern to human health" due to their potential to exacerbate the problem of antibiotic resistance.