Dispose of Your Medications Legally

Disposal of Prescription Drugs

The curious minds at AC Trash Hauling were discussing how to legally dispose of prescription drugs. Why were we concerned with this topic, you may be asking.

We were recently hired to clean out a home. Everything must go.

We will not haul away hazardous waste items, HazMat. This includes gas and oil, chemicals, cleaning supplies, paint and solvents, and the typical items that your local trash service would not take. We urge our customer to take them to a local recycling agency.

Notice that the list of exclusions lacked prescription medications. Alas we often time come across of varying amounts of prescription drugs. This is where curious minds started to act up.

We did some research, not necessarily all inclusive.

We did find a publication from the United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 816-F-11-003. This document is entitled, “How to Dispose of Medicines Properly”.

A quick paraphrase follows.

1st choice:

Contact your city or county to see if they have a take-back program. Or contact your local pharmacy for the same purpose.

2nd Choice

This comes from Drug Disposal Guidelines, Office of National Drug Control Policy

Simply, remove your drugs from the original container, mix with some undesirable item, kitty litter and coffee grounds were suggested. Put the mixture in a sealed container; a small plastic tub or sealable plastic bag. Dispose of the mixture with your trash.

The AC Trash Hauling & More team hopes that this is beneficial advice. Please take care and caution when dealing with prescription medications.

Just a reminder, we provide our trash hauling services to the following communities and surrounding areas.

Noblesville, Carmel, Fishers, Westfield, Sheridan, Zionsville, Broad Ripple, Cicero, Castleton, Lawrence, Tipton, McCordsville, Fortville, Greenfield, and more upon request.