From both a safety and environmental standpoint, you must be careful with how you dispose of prescription medications, over-the-counter (OTC), vitamins and herbals remedies. That includes liquids, pills and capsules.

The don'ts

• Never flush liquid or solid medication, even vitamins or herbal remedies, down the toilet or dump them in your sink. Sewage and water treatment plants are not equipped to deal with these substances. As a matter of fact, this is an emerging environmental issue as even tiny amounts of these drugs, especially narcotics, can have extremely harmful effects on our ecosystems. They can leach into local waterways, onto your property, or into the entire water system itself, harming people, pets, wildlife and the environment.
• Do not throw unused pills or capsules - prescription or otherwise - into the garbage. These bottles, pills and capsules make their way to landfill sites, where they can contaminate the environment, air, wildlife and people.

The dos

• Call your pharmacy. Most modern pharmacies subscribe to medical waste services and will be happy to take your medications in for safe disposal — generally, this service is provided at no cost for most items but check with your pharmacy first. This is especially important if you are throwing out expired prescription medication.
• Prepare your meds for disposal. Black out your personal information on the label with a marker. Then, put your old medications in a tightly sealed plastic bag and take them to your pharmacy.
• Call your municipality. Empty medication bottles can be recycled, but they must be thoroughly cleaned. If you're not bringing them into a pharmacy for disposal, call your municipality or local recycling facility to get instructions on what you should do with them.
• Take care with an old mercury thermometer. If you still have an old mercury thermometer, it must be disposed of carefully. Mercury is highly toxic: If the bulb breaks and the mercury evaporates, it can affect your family and pets. If you drop one, open your windows for ventilation and put on rubber gloves to pick up the little balls of mercury (which are very slippery) with an eyedropper or duct tape. Seal them tightly in a plastic bag and contact your pharmacist or local health authority for further instructions.

For more information about storing over-the-counter, prescription medication, and herbal remedies, read “Your medicine cabinet clean-up guide” found in 10 smart steps when buying over-the-counter medication.