How to Dispose of Prescription Drugs

Disposal of prescription drugs safely has become an issue in the United States, and there are some drugs that need specific instructions for disposal. Even with guidelines, there are often questions and those who do not agree with certain disposal methods.

Some of the prescription medications we use have instructions for disposal on the bottle, box, or insert. Others do not give a clue.

Proper disposal of prescription medicines prevents pollution in the water we drink, and it has become a priority with the Obama Administration to help keep our environment clean.

Instructions

• 1

  Collect expired or unused drugs.

  Go through your medicine cabinet periodically and collect all the prescription drugs and medications that are expired, that you no longer use, or that have containers that no longer function.

• 2

  Organize the medications.

  Sort the prescription drugs into groups. The largest group should be those that can be disposed of in the garbage. There may be some that are aerosol containers that are not recommended for incineration. There are also those drugs that are opiates that could be dangerous to a child or pets. These are the three basic categories.

• 3

  Check the FDA list.

  Review the list of opiates provided by the FDA if you do not know whether you have opiates as in Oxycontin, Percoset or Percodan, Fentanyl including Fentanyl patches, Methadone, Morphine, Demerol, or other controlled substances and barbiturates. See Resources below for this list.

• 4

  Read the container.

  Read on the bottle or the insert of any pills, and on the container or insert for any aerosol or inhaler to check the recommended disposal methods. If there are no recommendations listed, the FDA provides guidelines.

• 5

  Use community programs for disposal.

  Take any prescription drugs you can to a "take-back" facility or community program. If there is no program in your community, here are the alternatives.

• 6

  Use proper disposal for garbage.

  For items that can be placed in the trash or garbage, take the pills out of the original container and put them in a plastic bag with coffee grounds or other wet disposable, and close the plastic bag and place it in your trash.

• 7

  Remove the label.

  Remove the label or mark through it on any bottle you are going to throw in the trash, so your identity cannot be stolen, or your medical history is not revealed.

• 8

  Flush certain drugs.

  For prescription medications that are on the FDA list of opiates, remove them from the container and flush them down the commode. Do this only for the FDA opiates list, not all medications. There has been concern that some drugs survive waste water treatment plants, so the guidelines are for just those drugs that are opiates and on the list from the FDA.

• 9

  Dispose of aerosols and inhalers correctly.

  Check aerosols and inhalers for instructions for disposal. If you have questions that are not answered on the aerosol bottle or insert, contact your community waste department and find out if they are acceptable in the garbage. You can also check with a pharmacist. Be sure to dispose of prescription drugs safely.