Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division
Household Medications and Pharmaceuticals

Disposal

DO NOT flush medications down the toilet or drain.  Flushing even small quantities of household medications down the drain can contaminate drinking water supplies.

Procedures include:

1. Take the medications out of their original containers.  Try to make them as unappealing as possible by crushing any pills and mixing the medications with undesirable substances such as used coffee grounds or kitty litter. 
2. Put the mixture in a container with a tightly fitting lid or in a plastic ziptop bag or other tightly sealed plastic bag.  Transdermal patches should be folded onto themselves so they cannot be reused before being placed in the sealable container.
3. Remove or destroy all identifying personal information on the empty medicine container labels, including prescription and medical plan numbers.  You can destroy personal information by covering the information with a black permanent marker or by scratching it off.
4. Wrap the medication mixture and empty containers in newspaper to help conceal them, wrap them in a trash bag and place the packaged waste in the trash.
5. Be sure to keep children and pets away from the trash before it is picked up and hauled away.

These procedures are intended for small quantities of medications from a household only.  For more information on the proper disposal of household medications, visit www.smarxtdisposal.net .

Back to table