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Why Should I Return My Unused Medication And Needles To The Pharmacy
a 5 minute read
Published on Oct 6, 2020
Dispose of medication, syringes, pen needles and lancets safely and effectively at our pharmacy.
Improper disposal of medications and medical sharps is potentially harmful to people, animals, and the environment and our community.
Throwing it in the Garbage
When you throw out old or unused medication, there is a risk of animals getting to your garbage, both before it gets picked up, possibly local community pets, and almost certainly after it gets deposited at the local landfill. In the case where animals or anyone gain access to the garbage, there is an increased danger to anyone who comes into contact with the medication or needles, even to help clean it up.
Flushing it down the toilet or down the sink
When you put unused or expired medication down the drain into the sewer system, it goes to through the municipal water recycling system. Even though all this refuse is carefully treated for most known contaminants, some medications, can withstand the heat and processes that are used to purify water for drinking. Even though you may think that the amount of medication that could survive this would be very dilute, if everyone were doing this on mass, it would quickly add up to something that would be extremely dangerous. It's worth mentioning that this water depending on the municipality may be exposed back to nature at various points and or pumping stations before it goes through a purification process. If waste water is filled with stray medication, it would greatly increase the odds of damaging whatever environment it comes into contact with.
The non-profit organization responsible for the effective and safe collection and disposal of unused and expired consumer health products is the Health Products Stewardship Association (HPSA)
Returning Medications
Return any unused or expired Over the Counter or Prescription Medication to our pharmacy. Please ensure you empty all bottles of pills into a single bag and return it to the Pharmacy. Please do not mix pills and medical sharps into the same container as this poses a danger to our staff.
Returning Medical Sharps
Responsibly return used and unwanted medical sharps and devices to our pharmacy. The medical sharps must be enclosed in a safe collection container, that is free of charge, before it is returned to the pharmacy. Handling medical sharps that are not enclosed in one of these safe containers poses a safety concern to the staff who are collecting them.
We can all do our part for the environment, at Munroe Pharmacy we offer this service at no charge and are happy to be part of keeping our community a safer and cleaner place.
