Unused Medications
A few small steps can make an important difference in safeguarding lives and protecting the environment.
Follow your medication prescriberâs instructions and use all medications as instructed. If you do not use all of your prescribed or over-the-counter medication, you can take a few small steps to make a huge impact in safeguarding lives and protecting the environment by disposing of unused medicines properly:
DO NOT FLUSH unused medications and DO NOT POUR them down a sink or drain.
Be Proactive and Dispose of Your Unused Medications: Dispose of Your medications in your household trash. When discarding unused medications, ensure you protect children and pets from potentially negative effects:
- Pour medication into a sealable plastic bag. If medication is a solid (pill, liquid capsule, etc.), add water to dissolve it.
- Add kitty litter, sawdust, coffee grounds (or any material that mixes with the medication and makes it less appealing for pets and children to eat) to the plastic bag.
- Seal the plastic bag and put it in the trash.
- Remove and destroy ALL identifying personal information (prescription label) from all medication containers before recycling them or throwing them away.
