Disposal of Unused Medicines: What You Should Know

Learn how to properly dispose of old, unused, unwanted, or expired medicine

Video: How to Dispose of Medicine

Drug disposal options to consider and instructions for getting rid of old, expired, unwanted, or unused medicines

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How to Safely Dispose of Unused or Expired Medicine

The best way to dispose of most types* of old, unused, unwanted, or expired medicines (both prescription and over the counter) is to drop off the medicine at a drug take back site, location, or program immediately.

If you cannot get to a drug take back location promptly, or there is none near you, and your medicine is
- on the FDA flush list, your next best option is to immediately flush these potentially dangerous medicine down the toilet.
- not on the flush list, you should follow these instructions to discard the medicine in your trash at home.

*Check out the Medication Disposal Q&A for more information including how to dispose of needles and syringes.

This graphic visually depicts the methods available to consumers to dispose of their unused, unwanted or expired medications. The methods, in order of preference, include readily available drug take-bake programs, disposal in the household trash and, for a few potentially dangerous medications, disposal by flushing in the toilet.

Drug Disposal Options Infographic (PDF; 2.1MB)

Use our Safe Opioid Disposal - Remove the Risk Outreach Toolkit, which contains public service announcements (PSAs), social media posts and images, fact sheets, and more, for talking with others about safe opioid disposal