Eco-Responsible Ways to Dispose of Medications

Are you the reluctant owner of a medicine cabinet bulging with expired medications? Ones that you know you should have been thrown out years ago? Is that bottle of pills that you stopped taking last month still sitting on your nightstand? Is the cough syrup that made you gag the first and only time you used it last winter still sitting on your bathroom shelf?

If you are like most of us, when you get around to disposing of these items, you'll flush the pills down the toilet and pour the cough syrup down the drain. The problem with that is that too many of us have been "flushing and pouring" for too long, so that now minute traces of all kinds of medicines are showing up in our drinking water. Not enough to make anyone sick yet, authorities tell us, but why risk the possibility of negative long-term consequences for these not so eco-friendly practices?

Now, it seems, would be the right time for each of us to start being more environmentally responsible when disposing of unwanted medicines, both prescription and over-the-counter.

Here are a few tips to help you get started:

For Pills: Remove the pills from their original container and mix them with kitty litter, coffee grounds, mustard, or something else unpalatable to pets or humans; then place your concoction in a sealed container like an empty coffee can, or a Ziploc type bag, and throw it in the trash.

If you are lucky enough to live in a community in one of the 40 states that has a Costco, they will accept your unwanted medications, no matter who you bought them from, and will destroy them properly at no charge to you. The one exception to this is that they cannot take controlled substances; these are called Schedule II drugs, and include drugs like morphine, OxyContin, Percodan, and Vicodin. Schedule II drugs clearly state on their labels that they can be flushed down the toilet, so go ahead and flush these.

If Costco is not an option for you, ask your local pharmacy, municipal waste collection company, or hospital if they have, or know of, a "take-back" program in your area. Scattered, pilot "take-back" programs are sprouting up around the country.

Another acceptable method is to leave the pills in their original container, cross off your name and the prescription number using an indelible marker, then add a little water to the container to dissolve the pills, add some kitty litter, coffee grounds, mustard, cayenne pepper, even dirt or sand to the contents, then replace the bottle top using duct tape to seal it, place in a coffee can, or other closed container, and throw in the trash.

Never place medication in a recycle bin.

Liquids can safely be disposed of in a similar way by adding a little water and then mixing in something like kitty litter, salt, flour, mustard, any concoction that will discourage anyone from eating it; then cap, bag and finally conceal in a can or bottle, and throw in the trash.

For needles, lancets, or other sharps, replace the cap, then place the sharp end pointing down into a can, jar, or plastic laundry bottle; something that you can seal tightly, tape, and place in the trash.

With a little thought and care, we can all do our part to protect the nation's water systems for this and future generations.