Is your medicine cabinet full of expired drugs or medications you no longer use? Consumers and caregivers should remove expired, unwanted, or unused medicine from their homes as quickly as possible and properly dispose of them to help reduce the chance that others may accidentally take or intentionally misuse the medicine. This can also be confusing for older people who may have multiple prescriptions.
The best way to dispose of most types of unused or expired medicines (both prescription and over-the-counter) is to immediately use a take-back option. Unfortunately, Vincent’s Drug Store is no longer able to participate in the semi-annual drug take-back program. What are other disposal options?
Here are options suggested by the FDA and the SC Department of Environmental Sciences:
Visit a take-back location: Drug take-back locations safely and securely gather and dispose of unused or expired medicines, including those that contain controlled substances. Medications often accepted include prescriptions and over-the-counter ointments/creams, liquids/syrups, pet medications, prescription patches, and vitamins. Generally, needles, inhalers, aerosol cans, hydrogen peroxide, thermometers, and illegal drugs are not accepted. There are several year-round drop-off locations according to the US Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration and listed here are the ones nearest to Seabrook Is. Note: Not all pharmacy stores are equipped to take back unused medications.
CVS
2803 Maybank Highway at River Road, Johns Island
During Pharmacy hours of operation, it accepts prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and liquid medication bottles, but not sharps, aerosols, inhalers, illicit drugs, and chemotherapy waste.
Publix
3642 Savannah Highway(Route 17) at Main Road
1401 Sam Rittenberg Boulevard, Charleston
There is a kiosk located near the Pharmacy that accepts unused medications during store hours.
Walgreens
8395 Dorchester Road, North Charleston
During Pharmacy hours of operation it accepts prescription medications, ointments and patches, OTC medications, ointments, lotions and liquids, pet medications, vitamins, aerosol cans, and inhalers but not needles and thermometers, hydrogen peroxide, and illegal drugs.
Simply bring in your unneeded or expired medication and place it in the drug disposal unit conveniently located in the Pharmacy area. The units are available during regular pharmacy hours.
Throw it in the trash: Almost all medicines, except those on the FDA’s flush list, can be thrown into household trash. Prescription and over-the-counter pills, liquids, drops, patches and creams must remain intact, but should be removed from their original containers and mixed with something undesirable such as coffee grounds or cat litter, then placed in a secure bag or container. Don’t forget to scratch out all personal information on prescription labels.
If a take-back or mail-back program is not available to you, most other unused or expired medicines can be disposed of in your household trash. Here are the recommended steps to follow:
- Remove unwanted medicines from their original containers.
- Mix the medicine (do not crush tablets or capsules) with an undesirable substance such as cat litter, dirt, flour, or used coffee grounds.
- Place the mixture in a container such as a sealed plastic bag or empty margarine tub.
- Throw the container in your household trash.
Note: Only certain medicines are on the FDA flush list. These are those (1) sought-after for their misuse and/or abuse potential and (2) that can result in death from one dose if inappropriately taken. If children, adults, or pets in your home accidentally or intentionally ingest, touch, misuse, or abuse a medicine on the flush list, they can suffer serious consequences including death.
Resources:
FDA
fda.gov/drugs/safe-disposal-medicines/disposal-unused-medicines-what-you-should-know
SC Department of Environmental Sciences
des.sc.gov/community/recycling-waste-reduction/recycling-hard-manage-items/unwanted-medications
(Image credit: Unsplash and FDA.gov )