The Importance of Safe Disposal of Supplements That Have Expired
Whether spring cleaning or making a New Year’s resolution to be better organized, remember that your nightstand and bathroom cabinets may have best-used-by-dates in addition to your kitchen. If you’re cleaning out your kitchen and pantry, it makes sense to continue to the bathroom cabinets, another key area in our home with many items with “best used by” dates. Many of us hold on to expired medication that needs to be disposed of properly.
Do Medications and Supplements Expire?
Prescription and over-the-counter medications, including vitamins and other dietary supplements, all have expiration/best-used-by dates. Prescription medications typically have a one-year shelf life, while vitamins and dietary supplements typically have a one- to three-year shelf life. So, what’s involved in safely disposing of dietary supplements and prescription medications?
Many cities have hazardous waste collection sites that will take these to dispose of supplements and medications that have expired or are no longer needed. In addition, the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) schedules National Prescription Drug Take-Back Days twice a year. Typically, these days occur in October and April. During these events, unwanted medications can be dropped off at collection sites for free. If your clean-up doesn’t coordinate with these days, the DEA authorizes many pharmacies (including grocery store pharmacies) to collect and expose unused or expired drugs. The Department of Justice maintains a search where you can search for authorized drop-off locations within your community.
If waiting for a specified day is just too long, many pharmacy chains such as CVS and Walgreens have medication disposal envelopes that can be used to send unwanted medications directly to be destroyed, and some store locations have drop boxes.
(Bonus: Read our in-depth post detailing do vitamins expire?)
Safe Disposal of Dietary Supplements and Prescription Medications
If you elect to dispose of unused medications in your trash, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) offers these guidelines for how to handle them so they aren’t a danger to others:
- Take the pills out of their original containers
- Mix the pills with an undesirable substance, such as used coffee grounds, cat litter or dirt, to make the pills less attractive to children or pets and unrecognizable to someone who might intentionally go through your trash
- Put the mixture in a sealed container or bag to prevent the pills from leaking or breaking out of a garbage bag
- These products should not be burned, so those in rural areas with burn barrels should not put these items in the burn barrel
About 50 percent of people who misuse prescription pain meds get them from someone they know, most often a friend or family member. The FDA encourages unused opioid medications be disposed of immediately because the risk of abuse is so high. If the medication can’t be dropped at a take-back location, or drug mail-back envelopes aren’t available, it’s allowed to flush these high-risk medications. They report that the risk of these medications being in the wrong hands is potentially worse than the risk to the environment and water supply when flushing the items.
Remember These Tips When Throwing Away Expired Medication:
The Office of National Drug Control Policy recommends that before disposing of prescription medication bottles, the label either be removed or covered with a permanent marker or duct tape to prevent re-ordering by someone else.
Recommended storage instructions are noted on vitamin and supplement bottles and the insert accompanying prescription medications. Generally, products should be stored at room temperature, away from excessive light and humidity.
Article by Jill Turner, President of Cooper Concepts.
Reference
National Take Back Initiative
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/where-and-how-dispose-unused-medicines
FDA How to Dispose of Unused Medicines
http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/BuyingUsingMedicineSafely/UnderstandingOver-the-CounterMedicines/ucm107163.pdf