How do I safely dispose of old prescription drugs?

[Cicero]

I've got a number of old drugs accumulated over the years. I don't want to just dump them in the toilet (esp. since I have a septic tank), and the idea of them ending up in a landfill isn't acceptable to me. Does anyone know of any service or program that will safely dispose of them?

Alternately, I was going to grind them up, mix in some pine chips, and take a torch to them. That should effectively destroy them, and the ash should be safe to dispose of.

Any ideas? :shrug:

Later,

[BlueEyedSon]

1. Ebay?

Just kiddin'!

[Lefta Dissenter]

5. HA,

yeah, that's GREAT advice! :D

How bout calling your pharmacy? Maybe they can take them to dispose of them properly

[Mistress Quickly]

2. When my dad died

Hospice flushed them down the sink and ran the disposal.

[Warpy]

9. They used the loo when my mother died

but she had a helluva lot of stuff to flush. The disposall would've died from overwork.

I'd suggest you grind them up and then flush them. The stuff that gums up the works in a septic tank are the solids, so if you reduce this stuff to powder, it should be OK. Lots of it will go into solution and not be a problem, although a soil assay 1000 years from now will turn up your health history.

[juliagoolia]

3. your tank wont suffer..

flush them

[Cicero]

7. Maybe not, but...

... I live near a stream, which is at the top of the local watershed in our area. I keep hearing stories about how trace amounts of various perscription drugs are now showing up in our streams and rivers.

Hmmm...

Later,

[1000_posts]

8. the drugs get into the water

We know that some common drugs and hormones are showing up in groundwater due to contamination by prescription drugs.

[Ezlivin]

4. Rush Limbaugh is always a good buyer

Well, at least that is what I've heard.

:)

I would grind them up and sprinkle them into the trash.

I, too, have a septic system and I don't think they would harm it. Most prescription drugs become inert after a long period. And by the way, the drugs would have ended up there anyway after they passed through you (or whoever took them).

[BigDaddyCaine]

6. if they are painkillers, you should just take them

if not i dont see what would hurt by tossing them down the drain.

[phantom power]

10. try a hazardous-materials collection site

Many towns have haz-mat collection sites, where you can deposit things like dead batteries, old paint, motor oil, dead electronics, etc. I bet they would take old drugs, too.

You could also ask your local pharmacy, they would probably know, or maybe they would even take them.

[Maeve]

11. If you have a poison control center nearby, call them

They should be able to tell you safe methods of disposal for various drugs.

[NNadir]

12. It depends, of course, on what the drugs are.

I'm not particularly fond of putting antibiotics in septic systems. To the extent that they do not interfere with the operation of the system, they are breeding resistant bacteria.

Some antibiotics, the cephalosporins and penicillins, are in fact consumed when they kill organisms, so their effect is at beast temporary.

Actually, one should never have left over antibiotics. In order to protect the viability of the important drugs in this class, patients should complete the entire course of treatment, even when they are feeling better, since this prevents the emergence of resistant strains. (The exception of course is when one has had a strong side effect from the use of an antibiotic.)

Many drugs can be forced to degrade via the use of strong bases (like Drano) or acids (muriatic acid) and/or heat. Of course it may be that working with Drano or muriatic acid (aka hydrochloric acid)or battery acid (sulfuric acid) may be more risky than simply throwing the drugs in a landfill. I suppose that boiling them might work.

From an environmental standpoint, we need to be aware that some of the discovery of drugs in ecosystems has less to do with growing toxicity than it does to increased analytical capabilities owing to improvements in methods and instrumentation. Most drugs have limited lives in physiological systems owing to the fact that they are mostly designed to interact with enzymes. In a very real chemical sense, those who live by the sword, die by the sword; such is the world of drugs, most are metabolized fairly quickly. Some of course are not metabolized at all but are excreted: Many of the drugs found in the environment are probably there because someone has peed them after their kidneys eliminated them.

What I do with unused drugs - which I very seldom have - is to throw them in the trash.

[Dogmudgeon]

13. Get some Muriatic Acid

It's easily available at pool stores and hardware stores.

Muriatic acid is a standardized form of Hydrochloric acid.

Open the bottle, pour some out (into the sink is OK), and dump the drugs in there. Maybe not all at once, though, since you don't want to make it fizz and bubble over.

The acid is powerful enough to "disassemble" the drugs, destroying their toxic properties. Flush a little down the toilet each day -- raising the pH of the septic tank may actually improve its functioning.

--bkl

[enki23]

14. we're talking pills, right?

meant to be taken orally?

don't play with muriatic acid. just toss 'em in the garbage. there are far worse things in landfills than some expired antibiotics.

[Dogmudgeon]

15. He might want to crush them up first

That's probably the simplest way to handle it.

Muriatic acid is not all that dangerous to work with if you use some caution. Millions of swimming pool owners use it every year to prepare the surfaces of their pools before painting them.

It's also an accepted way to get rid of drugs, but trashing them should also work fine, unless he's concerned about kids or animals getting to the dead stash.

--bkl