Did you know that throwing medicines down the toilet or sink can be harmful to the environment? There is a safer way to get rid of the expired meds cluttering your bathroom cabinet. Read on to learn how to get rid of unused medications and prevent them from falling into the wrong hands or contaminating groundwater in your area.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Dispose of Most Drugs
Step 1. Do not throw most medications down the drain
In recent years, it has been discovered that throwing certain drugs containing hormones, antibiotics and other substances down the drain can contaminate groundwater and cause other negative effects. Instead of throwing these drugs down the drain, the safest way is to disguise them and then throw them out with the trash.
- Read the medicine's packaging for instructions for safe disposal.
- There are some medications that are considered potentially too dangerous to throw with the regular trash. The Ministry of Health recommends that drugs containing highly dangerous substances that could have serious effects if accidentally ingested should not be disposed of in the traditional way.
- If you don't know if the drug you want to eliminate is considered dangerous, ask your pharmacist what to do.
Step 2. Mix the medicines in the litter tray or with the coffee grounds
If you combine pills or liquids with an undesirable substance such as litter or coffee grounds it will be more difficult for a child or pet to find and ingest them.
If the pills are large or colored, crush or dissolve them before mixing them with another substance
Step 3. Put the mixture in a plastic bag and seal it
This extra layer of protection is another way to make sure the drug doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
Step 4. Throw away the garbage bag
Once the drug is carefully disguised and sealed in a bag, just throw it out with the trash.
Step 5. Remove labels from empty medicine bottles
Scratch off the labels so that the print becomes illegible before throwing the bottles away. This measure is taken to protect your identity and maintain privacy. (In some countries the drug container is personalized with the patient's name, follow this procedure if applicable).
Method 2 of 2: Dispose of Potentially Dangerous Drugs
Step 1. Check if the drug is considered potentially dangerous
In the United States, the FDA has published a list of drugs that it does not recommend throwing out with the trash. If someone were to find and ingest them, it could suffer serious health consequences.
Step 2. Check your area's drug disposal programs
Many municipalities provide for the possibility of taking unused drugs to authorized areas, so that they can be disposed of safely and correctly.
- Contact your local pharmacy to find out if they can pick up your medications. Some, though not all, countries have an expired drug disposal program that gives pharmacies the ability to collect them and manage their disposal.
- Consider donating unused drugs to third world countries. There are several humanitarian organizations that you can find online. Alternatively, try contacting home care associations or charities that occasionally collect unused material of any kind to donate to those in need.
- Call the waste disposal service in your area; it could provide facilities to properly dispose of drugs.
- Contact the nearest hospital or medical center that disposes of its unused drugs in the appropriate biohazard containers. All hospitals have this option, so there is never a need to dispose of unused drugs in the waste or down the drain.
Step 3. Throw them down the drain if you have no other choice
If the drug is on the list of those that shouldn't be thrown in the trash, and you have no other immediate way to dispose of it, throwing it down the drain may be an alternative.
Step 4. Finished
Advice
- Most UK pharmacies accept drugs for disposal.
- If you have a condition for which you are not insured, or for which you assume you will not be in the future (especially if you live in countries such as the United States, which have private health insurance), consider keeping the drug instead of disposing of it.. In this way it can be useful for difficult moments; many people may have knee or back injuries and not be insured, but they could benefit from these medications.
- If you are concerned about your privacy, remove confidential information from containers before disposing of medications. Some countries plan to indicate personal data on drug packaging. If this is the case, take an extra minute to destroy the label describing the drug, your name, doctor's name, prescription number, your pharmacy name, and in many cases your condition as well. medical. You certainly don't want to go public with this information if someone is sifting through the bins.
- There may be a conflict between the intended legislation and the guidelines provided in this article. Some drugs indicate in their instructions that they cannot be disposed of down the drain; but in countries like the United States, for example, the FDA recommends disposing of certain drugs as well. So the instructions on proper disposal are not always clear.
- Note: in Italy drugs must be strictly disposed of in an appropriate manner, placing them in the special bins provided in each municipality, or by contacting your trusted pharmacy.
