The safest way to get rid of old medications is to drop them off at a drug take-back location, but you can also dispose of most pills and liquids in your household trash if you follow a few simple steps. A small number of especially dangerous medications should be flushed instead. The method depends on what you have.
Why Old Medications Shouldn’t Sit Around
In 2022, roughly 47,400 children under five ended up in U.S. emergency rooms after accidentally swallowing medications found at home. Common over-the-counter drugs topped the list: acetaminophen alone accounted for an estimated 5,700 ER visits, followed by blood pressure medications (5,000) and ibuprofen (3,600). Narcotic medications sent an estimated 2,500 young children to the ER that year, more than double the number from the year before. Ninety-eight of those pediatric poisoning cases were fatal.
Beyond the safety risk inside your home, unused medications that end up in landfills or down the drain can reach waterways. Pharmaceutical compounds in rivers and streams have been linked to hormone disruption in fish, including male bass developing female characteristics, a pattern now observed across much of the U.S. Concentrations in treated drinking water remain far below therapeutic doses, but clearing out old meds properly helps limit this contamination at the source.
Option 1: Use a Take-Back Location
The simplest approach is to drop your medications at a permanent collection site. Thousands of pharmacies, hospitals, and law enforcement offices maintain year-round drop-off bins. The DEA’s online search tool lets you find one by zip code, with search radii from 5 to 50 miles. Many chain pharmacies (CVS, Walgreens, Walmart) now keep collection bins near their pharmacy counters. You can bring prescription bottles, over-the-counter drugs, and most controlled substances. No appointment is needed, and the service is free.
The DEA also sponsors National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events twice a year, typically in April and October, with temporary collection sites in communities that may not have a permanent option.
Option 2: Dispose of Most Meds in Household Trash
If a take-back site isn’t convenient, the FDA says most medications can go in your regular trash with a few precautions. The goal is to make the drugs unrecognizable and unrecoverable.
- Mix the pills or liquid with something unappealing: dirt, cat litter, or used coffee grounds. Don’t crush tablets or open capsules first.
- Seal the mixture in a plastic bag or other container that won’t leak.
- Remove your information by scratching out your name, prescription number, and any other personal details on the empty bottle before recycling or trashing it.
This method works for both pills and liquid medications. The unappealing substance discourages anyone from retrieving the drugs and helps absorb liquids so they don’t leak through the bag.
Option 3: Flush Certain Dangerous Medications
A short list of medications are so dangerous that a single accidental dose can kill a child or pet. For these, the FDA recommends flushing them down the toilet immediately when they’re no longer needed, rather than waiting for a take-back event or leaving them in the trash.
The flush list is mostly opioids: anything containing fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, methadone, hydromorphone, oxymorphone, meperidine, buprenorphine, or tapentadol. This covers dozens of brand names, from Vicodin and Percocet to OxyContin, Duragesic patches, and Suboxone. A handful of non-opioid drugs also make the list: sodium oxybate (Xyrem, Xywav), diazepam rectal gel (Diastat), and methylphenidate patches (Daytrana).
The common thread is that these drugs are both highly sought after for misuse and capable of causing death from a single dose if someone takes them by accident. If you have any of these and a take-back option is available nearby, that’s still the preferred route. Flushing is the backup when no collection site is accessible.
Needles, Syringes, and Lancets
Used sharps (insulin needles, EpiPen needles, lancets for blood sugar testing) require their own disposal process. Never toss loose needles in the trash or recycling.
Place every used needle or syringe into a sharps disposal container immediately after use. FDA-cleared containers are available at pharmacies for a few dollars, but a heavy-duty plastic container like a laundry detergent bottle works if your local guidelines allow it. Stop filling the container when it’s about three-quarters full to avoid needle-stick injuries when sealing or handling it.
How you get rid of the full container depends on where you live. Options include drop-off boxes at pharmacies, hospitals, or fire stations; household hazardous waste collection sites that also accept paint and motor oil; mail-back programs using FDA-cleared containers (usually for a small fee); and residential special waste pickup in some communities. Your local health department or trash service can tell you which options are available in your area.
Inhalers and Pressurized Canisters
Metered-dose inhalers contain pressurized canisters that shouldn’t go in regular recycling bins. The pressurized metal canister can cause problems during waste processing. Many pharmacies that accept medication returns will also take back inhalers. If you’re returning them to a collection program, keep the batch small, as large quantities of pressurized canisters create complications during incineration. In some programs, you can separate the plastic housing (recyclable) from the metal canister (returned for proper disposal).
Patches, Creams, and Other Forms
Medicated patches, particularly fentanyl patches, can retain enough active drug to be dangerous even after use. Fentanyl patches are on the FDA flush list: fold the sticky sides together and flush them. For non-opioid patches, fold them the same way and use the household trash method (mix with coffee grounds or cat litter, seal in a bag).
Medicated creams, ointments, and eye drops that aren’t on the flush list follow the same trash disposal steps as pills. Squeeze the contents into your dirt or coffee grounds mixture, seal everything in a bag, and scratch your personal information off the packaging.