Living Green: Disposing of Prescription Drugs

CHAPEL HILL, NC -- When it comes to disposing of paper, glass or plastic, if you want to go green the answer is easy... recycle.

But figuring out an environmentally friendly way to dispose of leftover or expired medicine that's a little tricky. Tricky, even for the experts, like environmental educator Rachel Smith who said, "It's not just different environmental issue. There's controlled and non-controlled substances, so it's really a very multifaceted problem."

University of North Carolina Environmental Chemist Howard Weinberg agrees.

Weinberg said, "There's a lot of information about the side effects of the drugs or what you shouldn't take them with, but there's no information about what to do with the drugs if you don't use them or if they are expired." For years, the public was told to flush away leftover drugs.

That was until scientists, like Weinberg, discovered the practice was sending drug remnants into bodies of water affecting the aquatic environment and trickling through the taps. George Gray with the Environmental Protection Agency said, "Very, very low amount of pharmaceuticals have been found in some of our rivers, lakes and streams. It is important to note that there is no scientific evidence linking that low level of pharmaceuticals to any adverse effects in people."

Meantime, the federal government recently released prescription disposal guidelines that discourage flushing most drugs. "The best thing is to remove an unneeded, unwanted or expired drug from the container and mix it in with trash," said Gray.

The guidelines instruct consumers to flush only the drugs that have a patient information section instructing that it is safe to do so.

When it comes to an environmentally friendly way to dispose of prescription drugs there is no quick fix, so perhaps the best advice for confused consumers, talk with your pharmacist.