Unneeded or expired prescriptions left in the home can lead to accidental poisoning and can be an easy source for those seeking to misuse or abuse prescription medication.
Be sure to safely and appropriately discard all remaining medication as soon as possible. Simply bring in your unneeded or expired medication to our pharmacy and our staff will professionally dispose those for you at no cost.
How to Dispose of Medicines at Home
When a take back option is not easily available, there are two ways to dispose of medicines at home, depending on the drug.
According to the FDA guidelines:
Flushing medicines: Because some medicines could be especially harmful to others, they have specific directions to immediately flush them down the sink or toilet when they are no longer needed, and a take-back option is not readily available.
How will you know? Check the label or the patient information leaflet with your medicine. Or consult the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s list of medicines recommended for disposal by flushing when a take back option is not readily available. Remember, don’t flush your medicine unless it is on the flush list.
Disposing medicines in household trash: If a take back program is not available, almost all medicines, except those on the FDA flush list (see below), can be thrown into your household trash. These include prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs in pills, liquids, drops, patches, and creams.
Follow these steps:
- Remove the drugs from their original containers and mix them with something undesirable, such as used coffee grounds, dirt, or cat litter. This makes the medicine less appealing to children and pets and unrecognizable to someone who might intentionally go through the trash looking for drugs.
- Put the mixture in something you can close (a re-sealable zipper storage bag, empty can, or other container) to prevent the drug from leaking or spilling out.
- Throw the container in the garbage.
- Scratch out all your personal information on the empty medicine packaging to protect your identity and privacy. Throw the packaging away.
If you have a question about your medicine, ask your health care provider or pharmacist.
For more information, please visit https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/where-and-how-dispose-unused-medicines