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Disposing of old pharmaceuticals

Posted by: Maven on February 27, 2010 at 8:05 am

From Mae Wu at the NRDC Switchboard blog:

“Cough, cough, cough. It’s that time of the year again: cold and flu season. It means that I’ve already spent a few days at home to avoid spreading too many germs to my colleagues. It also means that I’ve been walking the aisles of the drug store, trying to decide which medicine is going to tackle my newest symptoms. And that means that I have a small but growing stockpile of expired drugs in my house.

What do I do with my expired medicine?

It’s a good question, because there are environmental and human health consequences to what is done. Here in the U.S., we have a “toilet to tap” system. The things that we flush down the toilet and sink get treated at a wastewater plant, which then puts the treated water into the rivers and streams that we use to get our drinking water. Since we have no regulations requiring wastewater treatment plants to treat for pharmaceuticals, this means that flushing drugs down the toilet or washing them down the sink is a sure way to make sure they end up in our drinking water.

But then again, throwing them in the trash isn’t an answer either. As it turns out, researchers have also found pharmaceuticals leaching from landfills, so throwing the into the trash doesn’t help either. … “

Continue reading this post at the NRDC Switchboard blog by clicking here.

February 27, 2010 · Filed Under Drinking Water & Bottled Water

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