Unused or expired prescription drugs may seem harmless sitting in your medicine cabinet, but improper disposal can pose serious risks to your health, your community and the environment.
Best Practices for Safe Disposal
Throwing medications in the trash may seem convenient, but it can cause environmental contamination, accidental poisoning or drug misuse and theft. Here are a few ways to safely dispose of unused or expired prescription drugs.
Drug take-back programs—The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) sponsors National Prescription Drug Take Back Days twice yearly. Many pharmacies and law enforcement agencies also offer year-round drop-off kiosks.
Mail-back envelopes—Projects like MED-Project and Stericycle’s Seal & Send offer free or low-cost mail-back options. Prepaid mail-back envelopes are tamper-evident, DEA-compliant, anonymous and available at many pharmacies and online.
Community take-back events—Community groups may coordinate short-term or one-day prescription drug take-back events.
Check the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Flush List
If you don’t have access to drug mail-back envelopes and there isn’t a drug take-back location near you, check the FDA’s Flush List. These medications can result in death from one dose in some cases and may be more commonly misused. The FDA does not recommend flushing medicines unless they are on the list.
If you don’t have access to drug mail-back envelopes and there isn’t a drug take-back location near you, check the FDA’s Flush List. These medications can result in death from one dose in some cases and may be more commonly misused. The FDA does not recommend flushing medicines unless they are on the list.
This flyer is for informational purposes only and is not intended as professional advice. © 2025 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved.