Do you have any unused prescription drugs hanging out in your medicine cabinet or around your house? A lot of people do, but don’t really even think about them. You just stop taking them and sort of forget about them. Well, it’s something that you should think about and they should really be disposed of.

With prescription drug overdose being the second leading cause of death in the US, we should all think about the dangers of leaving them around the house for anyone to find and take, especially teenagers. Let’s face it, there’s no need to make them easily accessible for recreational use.

But, how do you get rid of the unwanted pills, patches or liquids? Do you throw them in the trash? Do you flush them down the toilet? Toss them out your car window on a deserted highway? Just kidding about that one!

The best way to properly dispose of your unused prescriptions is to take them to your prescription give back type of program. Kind of like bringing your paint and chemicals to the chemical collection programs that are offered through solid waste facilities. Just call your city or county government’s household recycling and trash service to see if there’s a program in your community.

If you don’t have a program like that in your area, the bottle label or patient instructions will generally indicate how to dispose of the medication that you need to get rid of. Sometimes it will say to just throw them in your trash and others will say to flush.

If there is no indication of how to get rid of your medication, take the unused substance out of its original bottle and mix them with undesirable substances like used kitty litter or coffee grounds. This makes it much less appealing to children and can make it almost impossible for someone to find who might go through the trash. It’s important NOT to flush any prescription drugs down the toilet unless they specifically indicate that you should do that.

Also, if you’re throwing out old medicine bottles that have a label with your personal information, scratch out the identifying specifics. This helps to protect your identity and personal information.

And, for all of you green lovers out there, this is all especially important to follow to help keep our water uncontaminated. So, let’s keep our planet safer and cleaner and most importantly, keep our unused prescription drugs out of the hands of people who might abuse them.

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