Decluttering: Medicine Cabinet

Cleaning and organizing the medicine cabinet doesn’t has to be stressful.  Old, expired or unneeded medicines in your medicine cabinet could potentially pose a danger to children or pets who could accidentally ingest.  There are three safe ways to clean out and get rid of your expired medicines or unneeded ointments that are taking up space.

• Local Pharmacy: Find a local pharmacy take-back program. These programs are free and the preferred safe method of recycling/eliminating old medicines.
• Household Hazardous Waste Programs:  Find the phone number or website for your local Household Hazardous Waste Collections (HHW). Similar to the pharmacy program, this program is free and a safe and Eco-friendly way to discard old medicines.
•  Do-it-Yourself:  it is important that you do not flush your medicines down the sewage system because this is has been found to harm our lakes, rivers, oceans and even our drinking water. If disposing at home follow the below steps to ensure safe disposal of your medicine.

Decluttering Your Medicine Cabinet Safely:

• If possible, keep medicine in its original child-proof container.
• Scratch or use a permanent marker to mark out any patient information.
• Place a couple ounces of water into bottles that contain pills or capsules.
• Close the child-proof top and tightly seal with duct tape or packing tape.
• If disposing of blister packs wrap several layers of tape tightly around package.
• If disposing of ointments or creams wrap the tubes tightly in duct tape or packing tape, place in a seal-able bag (like a Ziploc).
• If disposing of expired liquids such as cough medicines pour contents into a seal-able bag (like a Ziploc) then add something solid like coffee, dirt, sand or kitty litter to make it thick and inedible. Seal bag and recycle the bottle making sure there is no patient information visible.
• Place all sealed medicine items in a plain cardboard box and seal again with packing tape.
• Place box in garbage container as close to pick-up day as possible.

To keep your medicine cabinets de-cluttered and safe we recommend that you clean it out every 6 months.  Always keep medicines up and out of the way from children and pets.  As always, if you have any questions about your medicines and disposal contact the experts at your local pharmacy.  If you are planning to move in the near future make sure you have all of your important/daily medicines packed in your overnight bag. Take your overnight bag with you and not packed onto the moving truck.  Whatever your chosen plan for cleaning and organizing your medicine cabinet, when moving day arrives these steps will help ensure a safe and stress-free move.