If you are like most people, you have a cabinet or a drawer somewhere in your home with bottles, tubes, boxes and containers of unused medications. Over the counter medications as well as perscription medications tend to sit in those drawers and cabinets; sometimes, they expire and are no longer as effective. Perhaps the medications have been perscribed for you and were not effective; or, they are a medication that you dont use them daily. There may be some that you were allergic to. For whatever reason they are there and not being used…the dilemma presents itself; how do you get rid of the stuff?
It used to be that people never gave it a second thought. They would do one of two things; either they would dump them down the sink or flush the down the drain, or they would throw them away in the trash. Both of those methods can be dangerous. We now know that medications are getting into our sources of water and contaminating the water supply of our nations. We must be wiser in how we dispose of unwanted or unused medicines.
There are some things that you can do. First off, if your medication is an antibiotic…finish the perscription unless you have developed an allergic reaction to it. Dont save it. Never give your medication to another person. Consult with your doctor or pharmacist when that situation occurs. Truly, modern medicine is a miracle. Medications have the ability to help save lives like never before…however, some of them have devastating effects or consequences for those who are exposed to the if they are not needed. Extra care must be taken when handling some of these powerful medications. We dont know the long term effects of being exposed to unnecessary medications or residual medications that have found their way into our environment.
If your doctor changes your perscription to another medication and your perscription is not usuable….then it is best to dispose of the medication so that no one else accidently gets their hands on it. Medication is powerful stuff and taken by the wrong person or if accidently ingested by a child or a pet it could cause serious harm or deaths.
Knowing what we know now about the importance of living in a more green fashion and taking care of our earth…we must be very careful how we dispose of the medicines that we no longer use. Simply dumping them in the garbage can to go and sit in a landfill isn’t all that great of an idea either. However, if you do decide to throw them in the garbage; take some precautions. If the medication is a liquid in a bottle you can add water to it to dilute it and then tape the bottle shut with a strong strapping tape or a duct tape. Put it in a ziploc bag inside of the trash bag, this will help to keep the contents from leaking into the environment.
If the medication is in pill form in small containers you may want to them in a small amount of liquid and again go through the procedure of taping the bottle shut and putting it into a ziploc bag. On all perscription bottles you will want to remove any traces of identity such as your name, phone number, address, and even your doctors name. There are too many people out there with ulterior motives when it comes to stealing the identity of others; you must be wise in how you protect yourself.
Over the counter medications can be just as bad for the environment and if it gets into the hands of a child or a pet. Perhaps you could take these medications and do all of the previous suggestion along with putting any and all medications inside a resealable container such as a peanut butter container or a used plastic coffee container. This will give an added barrier to the medicine affecting people, pets, or ground water quality.
Some pharmacies are trying to tackle this issue and offer a safe disposal program. Some experts say that the safest solution is to incinerate unused medications, and that may be; however, it is worth talking to your local pharmacy and asking if they have a disposal program. If they dont have one in place already, why not encourage them to put a plan into action. After all, the health and well-being of their customers should be at the forefront of their business at all times. This is a responsible way to encourage both pharmacists, doctors and patients or customers to all work together for a solution to a big problem.
As a side note: lets remember all the dangerous chemicals that are thrown into the landfills or dumps as well. Cleaners and chemicals that can be wrapped and protected from breaking down into the environment should also be given consideration. If you can seal those cans, bottles and containers from leaking by take a few extra steps before throwing them away it will be worth it for the improvement of our health and well-being. Thanks for reading! Do you have any ideas or suggestions on this subject? Please share.
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Oh, Rainy…I brought my step stool and will now climb onto my soap box!
I wonder how many people have ever given thought to the idea of these medications going into the water supply because we INGEST various prescriptions! What goes IN, must come OUT. That material finds its way back into the incoming water supply eventually…is it any WONDER we have health issues and toxicity everywhere?
People will no doubt continue to use toxic materials in the hope of curing their ailments but for those who prefer to take a different road to vibrant, glowing health and well being there is a myriad solutions, all of which are non invasive, non toxic and not costly, either.
I hate to be the one to break this “news” but the fact is that prescription drugs kill 40,000 Americans every year. Not only that, they generally do not accomplish what all the media hype may want you to think.
We might do well not to bring the silly things into the house in the first place.
Thank you for letting me rant. If there is a statement to be sent for your therapy services, please send that to my stepson. He cannot read! Grin.
Wishing Everyone Well,
Mother Connie