Bebout Family Medicine
Available when you need us!332 North Court Street
Morganfield, KY 42437Monday - Friday
See our Office Hours PageDo you know how to dispose of expired or unwanted medication
More and more in the news there are reports of illness and injury brought about by injestion or exposure to household medications. Medications are toxic substances (both prescription and OTC) and must be dealt with appropriately. I would guest that most people have cabinets or drawers containing unwanted medications. Just throwing them out can lead to accidental ingestion by children or other members of society. I will go over some of the recommended and approved methods of disposal.
Common methods of disposal
One of the easiest methods of disposal is just to throw them away. If you take this route then you have to make sure you do it correctly. The following is an excerpt from the FDA website:
If no take-back programs or DEA-registered collectors are available in your area, and there are no specific disposal instructions in the product package insert, such as flushing described below, you can also follow these simple steps to dispose of most medicines in the household trash*:
- Mix medicines (do not crush tablets or capsules) with an unpalatable substance such as dirt, cat litter, or used coffee grounds;
- Place the mixture in a container such as a sealed plastic bag;
- Throw the container in your household trash; and
- Delete all personal information on the prescription label of empty pill bottles or medicine packaging, then dispose of the container.
Periodically, the DEA offers temporary collection sites that are set up in communities nationwide for safe disposal of prescription drugs. This is called National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. This date is set for April 27, 2019. Local sites will be announced on April 1. Stay tuned!
There are also permanent local collection sites available. These include:
Union County Methodist Hospital pharmacy – 270-389-5000
Union County Sheriff’s department – 270-389-1303
Some medicine is safe to flush down the toilet.
Some medicines are just to dangerous to throw in the trash and a collection site is not always available. Studies have shown that it is safe to flush some medications down the toilet. The FDA provides Guidelines on what medications are safe to dispose of in this manner.
FDA instructions on how to dispose of medications.
Here is a Link describing the FDA recommendations.
