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 In this section:

        Safe Disposal of Medicines

Disposal of Unused Medicines: What You Should Know

                        
                Drug Disposal: Drug Take Back Locations
          Drug Disposal: FDA’s Flush List for Certain Medicines
          Drug Disposal: Dispose "Non-Flush List" Medicine in Trash
          Drug Disposal: Questions and Answers Home
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          Safe Disposal of Medicines
          Disposal of Unused Medicines: What You Should KnowSafe Disposal of Medicines Disposal of Unused Medicines: What You Should Know
  			Learn how to dispose of unused or expired drugs
	
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Video: How to Safely Dispose of Unused or Expired Medicine

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

Transcript

How to Safely Dispose of Unused or Expired Medicine

The best way to dispose of **most types*** of unused 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 (Updated 10/1/2020) **NEW**

                                                                                  Content current as of:
      10/01/2020
                  
                   
Regulated Product(s)
		 DrugsTopic(s)
			  Consumer HealthDisposal of Unused Medicines: What You Should Know                
                          

                        Drug Disposal: Drug Take Back Locations
          Drug Disposal: FDA’s Flush List for Certain Medicines
          Drug Disposal: Dispose "Non-Flush List" Medicine in Trash
          Drug Disposal: Questions and Answers
 
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