How to safely dispose of medication near you

Most people have a few bottles of old or unused medicines scattered around their homes. But these prescription and over-the-counter drugs are more than just clutter. Taken by mistake, they can cause serious problems.

Fortunately, it’s easy to safely get rid of medicines you no longer use or that are past their expiration date. Through safe and secure drug disposal, you can protect yourself, your family, your community and the environment.

When to get rid of a medication

It’s the right time to dispose of a medicine when:

• It’s past the expiration date on the bottle
• It’s an over-the-counter (OTC) drug you no longer need
• It’s a prescription medicine that your doctor says you no longer need to take
• It’s been replaced by a different medicine that treats the same condition

It might be tempting to keep some unused pills around “just in case.” But older medicine kept as a backup is often less effective than drugs that have been recently purchased or dispensed.

When you’re ready to toss out your old medicine, start by checking the label, box or other information that it came with. You can usually find instructions on how to dispose of it safely.

Otherwise, depending on where you are and what medicine you’re throwing out, you have three options:

• Bring it to a drop-off box or take-back program – Experts agree that the best way to dispose of drugs safely is to bring them to a secure drop-off box or take-back program. Once collected, these drugs are incinerated. Your local pharmacy, hospital or clinic may have a secure drop-off box to quickly and safely throw your old drugs out. Otherwise, your community might have a drug take-back program or event that you can bring them to.
• Throw them out with your regular garbage – If you’re not near a drop-off box or a take-back event isn’t convenient, you can throw out most drugs in the garbage. Start by taking the old medicine out of its original bottle. Tear off the label or scratch off your personal information and throw the bottle away. Then, mix the medicine with something unappetizing like cat litter, coffee grounds or expired food. Put that in a sealable plastic bag, then toss the bag in your regular trash.
• Check the FDA’s flush list – Certain drugs, like prescription painkillers that contain opioids, can be very harmful if taken by someone whom they aren’t prescribed to, or by pets or other animals. That’s why the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that certain high-risk drugs be flushed down a sink or toilet – but only if you can’t make it to a drop-off box or take-back event. Check out the FDA’s flush list to see if the unused medicine you want to dispose of should be flushed.

If you’re not sure what to do with your particular medicine, your pharmacist can also help with advice.

Are there different rules for disposing of liquid and injectable medicines?

No, just follow the same instructions as you would with solid medicine: Use a drop-off box or bring it to a drug take-back event. If that’s not an option, throw it out along with something unpleasant so that it’s not consumed. And don’t flush it or pour it down the sink unless it’s on the FDA flush list.

How do I safely dispose of needles, syringes and lancets?

Sharps, like needles and syringes, need to be disposed of properly to protect you, your family and sanitation workers. Fortunately, it’s easy:

• Keep used sharps in a sturdy, hard-sided plastic container. When it’s full, get rid of it at a drop-off site or other safe way that’s legal in your state.
• The safest sharps containers are those that are FDA-cleared and specifically made for used sharps. You can usually get these at your local drug store or online. You can also find containers as part of an online or local sharps mail-back service – all you need to do is follow the service’s instructions to get a sharps container, and then you can send it back for disposal once it’s ready.
• If it’s difficult for you to get a sharps container, you can make your own from an empty, sturdy and hard-sided plastic laundry or bleach bottle with a screw-on lid (don’t use glass, aluminum or steel containers, and don’t use containers made with thinner plastic, like milk jugs or soda bottles). Clearly label the container with “Do Not Recycle: Household Sharps.” Once you’ve filled it halfway with sharps, it’s ready for disposal.
• Check Safe Needle Disposal to see your state’s laws and recommendations for disposing of used sharps containers. You can also look up any drop-off sites near you.

When old and unused drugs aren’t disposed of properly, they have the potential to cause all kinds of problems. Inside your home, they can cause accidental poisoning. And outside, they can contribute to substance use and environmental damage.

Proper medicine disposal protects you

When medicines are past their use-by date, they’re not as effective as they were when they first left the pharmacy. Over time, medicine can even become unsafe to use. Safe disposal helps ensure you’re using medicine that’s at full power to keep you healthy.

Also, the clutter of old and unused drugs can mix in with your new medicines, increasing the chances of taking the wrong one by mistake. By regularly taking stock of the medicines you have and removing the ones you don’t need, you can keep yourself safe.

Proper medicine disposal protects your family

Accidental poisoning from unused and old medicines can also put your family at risk, especially if you have young children in your home. According to the FDA, medicine accidents involving children ages 6 and under are responsible for around 60,000 emergency room visits and 450,000 calls to poison centers each year.

Pets can also find and tear apart containers of unused medicine, and eating what’s inside can be fatal. By disposing of medicine that’s too old to be useful, you can reduce the risk of it being found and taken by accident.

Proper medicine disposal protects the community

In the wrong hands, many medicines can be misused – especially controlled substances like prescription painkillers. Substance use is often perpetuated by finding unused medicines from family and friends, as well as by finding pills that weren’t properly thrown away. Proper drug disposal helps decrease the chances that unneeded medicines are used dangerously.

Proper medicine disposal protects the environment

When medicines that aren’t on the FDA flush list are sent down the sink or through the toilet, they have the potential to cause serious damage to the environment.

Most treatment plants can’t remove prescription drugs from city water, causing them to return to the water supply. There, they can pollute the environment and harm the health of fish, frogs and other wildlife. And they can potentially make their way back to drinking water facilities, too. In addition, antibiotics that find their way into waterways and groundwater can change how bacteria grow in nature. This can potentially lead to the development of bacteria strains that can’t be treated by antibiotics.

Keep in mind that if you’re not able to bring medicines like opioids and narcotics to a take-back site, they’ll need to be flushed to protect people from harm. The benefits of fast and thorough disposal of these drugs outweigh any potential harm to the environment. But before you flush medicines like painkillers and other controlled substances, double check to make sure they’re on the FDA flush list.