How to Dispose of Pharmaceutical and Personal Care Products

Pharmaceuticals and personal-care products are known commonly by the acronym of PPCPs. Simply put, they refer to products used by humans for either health reasons or cosmetic reasons, as well as the agricultural industry that uses them to increase the growth of livestock. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products enter the environment in two ways: when washed off or passed through the body into sewage lines. While this process isn't something that many of us can do much about, what we can do is properly dispose of these products' packaging. This is especially important since the packaging can affect the environment in adverse ways. Luckily, good disposal methods are available.

Things You'll Need

• Kitty litter
• Used coffee grounds
• Sealable bags
• Permanent black marker

Show More

Instructions

• 1

  Take out all the drugs that you don't need anymore from their original containers and mix them into kitty litter. An alternative to doing this is to mix all the pills or capsules with used coffee grounds. This ensures that the drugs won't be used again for the wrong reasons by someone foraging through your trash.

• 2

  Place the kitty litter or coffee grounds mixture into a sealable bag and throw the bag out with the household trash.

• 3

  Take all the containers or boxes that the drugs came in and black out anything identifying, including your name and address or the name of the drugs, with the permanent black marker.

• 4

  Tear up the boxes if possible. If these are solid containers, leave them as they are. Then put everything in another sealable bag and throw it away with the household trash.