Did you just go through your medicine cabinet looking for something to relieve your allergy symptoms or headache and find a few items embarrassingly past their sell-by date?
Good news is you are not alone. Bad news is most people don't know how to dispose of expired medicines - prescription or over-the-counter. Some people just keep hanging onto them not knowing what to do while others flush the expired products away. Both are bad ideas.
Keeping out-of-date medicines in the house poses dangers to everyone in the family - especially children. And they may not be able to help you when you need them the most. Option two: flushing them down the toilet can be harmful to the environment.
"The main reason to dispose of your out-of-date medicines is they may have become ineffective and lost potency," says Kevin Thomas, Director of Pharmacy Services for Henry County Hospital's inpatient pharmacy and the retail Neighborhood Pharmacies at the Hospital, Forest Ridge and Fred's.
Disposal Solution
So what's the best way to dispose of those unused drugs? Just toss them out with the household trash. Of course it's best with a disguise. You can simply crush the pills or tablets; or even add kitty litter, coffee grounds or sawdust and place in a sealed contain. No one, not even your four-legged friends - will ingest the drugs now.
