Wait! Don't just toss that unwanted medication. Instead, use one of these tips to keep people and the planet safe.
In general, doctors prescribe an exact amount of medication because the patient should take all of it. But patients and doctors might decide to cut short a course of medication for a number of reasons: unmanageable side effects, a new diagnosis, or because the medicine just isn’t working. When that happens, people end up with one or more small plastic bottles and a troubling suspicion that they probably shouldn’t just throw them in the trash.
Trust that instinct. There are two main reasons to dispose of unneeded medications with care: the health of other people, and the health of the environment. Medications left sitting around in the home could be accidentally ingested by children or abused by other adults. Among people who abuse prescription drugs, almost half get them from a friend or family member. Plus, when thrown in the trash, medications eventually make their way to the soil and water and can negatively affect human, animal, and plant health.
To keep controlled substances out of the wrong hands and the environment, read on for five tips for safe drug disposal.
Are Orange Pill Bottles Recyclable?
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3. Use a free mail-in envelope.
Yes, you can mail your unwanted medications to a DEA-authorized destruction facility. Pre-addressed and pre-paid mail-back envelopes are available at many pharmacies for this purpose, and organizations including town offices and continuing care retirement communities may provide them free of charge, too.
4. Medications on the “flush list” can and should be flushed down the toilet.
Some medications could kill children who accidentally ingest them. Others are extremely sought-after for abuse potential. The DEA includes 15 kinds of medication in these two categories on a “flush list.” Experts have determined that, for these particular medications, the risk to human health outweighs the risk to the environment. So, if a take-back program, like one of the three options listed above, isn’t immediately available, flush any extra medication down the toilet for the safety of others. But be sure to first check the list or the medication’s packaging.
5. If no other safe disposal options exist, throw it in the trash–but do this first.
If a medication isn’t on the flush list, and there are no take-back options available near you, unwanted medication should be thrown in the trash. But first, make it unappealing for use by others. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends taking the medication out of its original packaging, mixing it with something gross (like cat litter or coffee grounds), putting the mixture inside an empty container like a yogurt tub, and then throwing it in the trash.
Follow these tips, and you’ll be doing your part to prevent accidental poisoning and drug abuse and keep our watershed healthy.
Sources:
https://www.epa.gov/household-medication-disposal/what-do-unwanted-household-medicines
