How to Safely Dispose of Medications

Do you have expired or unused prescription medicines in your medicine cabinet? You might even have bottles stacked behind other bottles, taking up space. Your first instinct may be to toss the old drugs in the trash or flush them down the toilet. But is there a safer way to get rid of these unwanted medicines?

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) created the following guidelines for consumers. These guidelines were designed to keep people, animals, and the environment safe.

Step One: Read the Drug Label

First, read the drug label or patient information that is packaged with the medicine. Here, you may find specific information regarding disposal. It is important that you do not flush the medicine down the toilet unless the instructions tell you to do so. This is because drug residues can end up in the water systems—streams, rivers, lakes, and drinking water reservoirs.

In fact, there are only a few medicines, like the narcotics oxycodone and fentanyl that should be flushed. This is because these drugs are highly addictive. It is safer to keep these medicines out of the trash and away from people who may abuse them.

Step Two: Dispose or Drop Off

What if the medicine label does not have specific instructions for disposal? You have a couple of options:

• Disposing of the medicine in your trash
• Dropping off your medicine at a drug take-back program

• Reviewer: Brian Randall, MD
• Review Date: 08/2011 -
• Update Date: 08/19/2011 -