Environmental Matters in the Commonwealth of Kentucky

How do you properly dispose of old or unwanted medicines found in your medicine cabinets?  Should you flush them down the toilet?  Should you throw them in the garbage?  What is the safest disposal option for our environment and our children and pets?   Hanging onto unused medications can increase the chances of taking the wrong one, and old drugs can lose their potency, reports the Harvard Heart Letter. But have you ever thought about where the medicine will end up? Scientists are finding everything from aspirin to Zoloft in our streams, rivers, and lakes. 

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the American Pharmacists Association offer these helpful suggestions for disposing of unused and expired medications.  These two organizations suggest:

• Take unused, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs out of their original containers and throw them in the trash.  You should remove and destroy all identifying personal information (prescription label) from the medication container.
• Crush solid medications or dissolve them in water (this applies for liquid medications as well) and mix them with kitty litter or sawdust (or any material that absorbs the dissolved medication and makes it less appealing for pets or children to eat).  Place the mixture in a sealed plastic bag before tossing it in the trash.
• Flush prescription drugs down the toilet only if the label or accompanying patient information specifically instructs doing so.
• Talk to your local pharmacist.  Research shows that pharmacists are one of the most accessible and helpful healthcare professionals.  As the medication experts on the healthcare team, pharmacists are available to guide you on how to properly dispose of your unused medications. 
• If available, take advantage of community pharmaceutical take-back programs that allow the public to bring unused drugs to a central location for proper disposal. Some communities have pharmaceutical take-back programs or community solid-waste programs that allow the public to bring unused drugs to a central location for proper disposal. Where these exist, they are a good way to dispose of unused pharmaceuticals.

However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advises that the following prescription drugs always be flushed down the toilet instead of thrown in the trash: