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Old expired medications

Where do I take old 'Dated' medications for disposal? I tried to take to a pharmacy and was told they are accounted for meds provided to the customer and those thrown away.
I know I cannot place in for the garbage/trash. Certainly not flush in the toilet.
ANYONE?

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CaptainCanadia · 41-45, M

From the FDA site:

1. Check for a take-back program in your area. Basically call the dump.

2. "If no disposal instructions are given on the prescription drug labeling and no take-back program is available in your area, throw the drugs in the household trash following these steps:
Remove them from their original containers and mix them with an undesirable substance, such as used coffee grounds, dirt or kitty litter (this makes the drug less appealing to children and pets, and unrecognizable to people who may intentionally go through the trash seeking drugs).

Place the mixture in a sealable bag, empty can or other container to prevent the drug from leaking or breaking out of a garbage bag."

In short, mix it with some garbage and throw it out in a way so nobody will feel inclined to root through your garbage for pills.

NCCindy · 36-40, F

Flushing them down the toilet is pretty safe ... The pills dissolve quickly and once your flush gets mixed with all the others, the concentration of the medication is so low that it would be nearly impossible to even measure it.

Many years ago, my Dad had a college project to figure out how much LSD needed to be dumped into a NY City Reservoir in order to get all of NY City hallucinating ... turned out to be roughly a dump truck worth ... not likely to ever happen in real life.

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billytex1 · 70-79, M

PLEASE don't just flush them!!!! Several recent studies around major cities especially show detectable levels of these medications now showing up in the water we DRINK!!!!!!! And - medications are not always filterable at the places that make all that so called 'pure' bottled water!!!

Many police departments run expired medication dropoffs every so often - like 4 times a year - I know mine does - check with them first, or your local fire department - also some times hospitals will take them and dispose of them with their expired meds.

Again please don't flush them!!!!

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billytex1 · 70-79, M

@NCCindy: recent studies here in MY city especially - showed traces of some of the most frequently prescribed meds, including painkillers like Oxycontin, anti depressants, birth control pills, diabetic meds like Metformin, blood pressure meds, and others - so this isn't just something I made up, OK???? There was a similar warning published in both the Dallas Morning News and Fort Worth Star-Telegram after the TCEQ (Texas Commission on Environmental Quality) published their findings - and before you go off because you're a 'scientist', I've got degrees in geology, geophysics with minors in chem and bio - worked the oil industry and environmental work for 40+ years here - so I think I'm just a little better than the average joe off the street.

You ask about how many pills go down the toilet vs how much water a city consumes - how many pills per annum do you think it takes to titrate out eventually a dose level in a water supply that is readable in parts per million, anyhow?? Apparently enough of this 'flush it' occurs that that's just what's happening - these meds don't get filtered or decomposed by the filtering action that removes most other substances - and once in the water, it just concentrates.

Remember Lake Erie - if you were around then - industrial pollutants, in just parts per million quantities, were dumped into that body of water over decades and decades - nearly rendering one of the largest bodies of fresh water in the world dead, literally - the mercury toxicity alone measured in fish was 300 times acceptable lifetime consumption levels.

NEVER throw active chemicals back into the water supply - EVER - ALWAYS dispose of such items properly. I'm both surprised and taken aback you'd claim to be a 'scientist' and have issue with my remarks - sort of contradictory here.

NCCindy · 36-40, F

@billytex1: Healthy skepticism, but I'll take your word for it for now until I get to read these reports myself and decide if I believe it myself. I'll Google them when I have some time on my hands.

I would not be surprised if the amount of some of these drugs that ends up in the wastewater stream that was the result of the drug being excreted in urine is a lot higher than due to pills being flushed. Given drug costs today, I can't see that many pills getting flushed / day, but ... who knows ??? Back when I was on birth control pills, I was paying $30/cycle ... I assure that I didn't flush any.

Drinking water quality in many parts of the country is a problem. I won't deny that for a moment.

billytex1 · 70-79, M

@NCCindy: thanks for your reply - my concern, especially from my days taking enviro health training in the oil industry (one of the reasons I got out of it) is way too many people don't really realize that our water system is completely closed - it's not replenished, replaced, or lost - it just continually recycles - and unless the system can somehow filter out all the crap we put into it, it's there - to stay. Lots of meds do eventually break down - but some are extremely stable, whether they're disposed of in their dispensed form, or wind up in the water supply via excretion.

I just want to help get people to understand what they throw into the toilet or down the sink isn't suddenly nobody's problem any more - it's all our problem - and it's getting worse by the day. We've become way too 'throw away' a society - and eventually our society will pay for it.

samueltyler2 · 80-89, M

I am a retired toxicologist and have dealt with his "problem" for almost 50 years.

Almost very community has periodic "take back days" sponsored by the US DEA, in which a pick up is scheduled. You can look up the location and date on google. I believe last week was the designated DEA take back day. Some other communities have regular, permanent sites. If all else fails, take some non-edible substance, such as coffee grounds, crush the pills and mix with that and pack in a contain and discard in the regular trash. in fact dumping in the toilet used to be the recommendation and really still makes most sense, although not politically correct,since it is being frowned upon by the powers that be. When you realize that all medicine taken by an individual leaves their body in their urine or stool, either unchanged or metabolized by the body.

PM me for further discussion.

hlpflwthat · M

You are SO RIGHT, Carla. Don't flush meds. They are not broken down in our sewage systems and can have unintended consequences.

I'd check with your county human services. They can likely point you toward proper disposal. They do drop-offs couple times annually here.

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Carla1951 · 70-79, F

Found this... http://www.wikihow.com/Dispose-of-Medication
NEVER flush

bigjohndl · 70-79, M

Interesting that they think it will get into groundwater but no concern about mixing with kitty litter where it could contaminate your cat. Or disguise them and throw them away? Here they separate the trash for recycling and burning. Good possibility that they could fall into the hands of the people who separate the trash for recyclables. Many locales have laws against throwing prescribed medicine away in the trash.

Carla1951 · 70-79, F

@bigjohndl: first off I don't reuse my cat litter. It goes in the trash. Still I am aware the trash is not the best place for medications. I will try again to take to the Police Dept and seek their knowledge. I might even luck out and have them call around in my behalf.

xSharp · 31-35, M

just flush it everyone else does, just dont drink the tap water! if you take a tour you will see the water treatment plant is not equipped to clean out much more than organic waste, meds and chemicals can not be completely removed.

dont believe me? grab a frying pan and boil off a few glasses of tap water and see what is left in the pan..

bigjohndl · 70-79, M

Why not flush in the toilet. That's what happens with the majority of expired meds. It is not like they go right back into the drinking water. The water goes through purification. Those pills dissolve in water.

LedRobster · 61-69, M

Actually, they can and do end up in the drinking water of many localities. Most do not have a sufficiently sophisticated filtering system to remove all the chemicals.

Carla1951 · 70-79, F

Carla (me) was just curious... didn't want them to get in the WRONG hands. I don't want these to harm anyone. It would be to much a risk in them getting back into our echo system

SheCallsMeCrushDaddy · M

most people either flush or throw them in the trash...... if the pharmacy wont take them back, then you dont have many other options. when in doubt, google it.

Carla1951 · 70-79, F

@YourMomsSWcrush: I tried burning scrap wood in my large back yard. Neighbors called the Fire dept.

GoldenWorm · 51-55, M

OT - I was going to send you upload instructions but you're set to not receive PM.

LedRobster · 61-69, M

I thought the pharmacy was supposed to take them?

bigjohndl · 70-79, M

@LedRobster: Pharmacies are in the business of selling new ones, not taking back expired meds. Legally they cannot take meds back once dispensed to the customer.