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Help protect your community by properly disposing medication.
Many of us have a collection of prescription drugs or other medications in our homes that we’ve used personally or that we’ve acquired for a child or pet. Some of these drugs may have expired or are no longer needed and can be thrown away.
Improperly discarded drugs threaten public health and our environment with the potential to:
Poison children and animals
Be scavenged and sold unlawfully
Pass through sewage treatment plants and septic tanks and contaminate groundwater and soil
We all can do our part to reduce accidental poisonings and drug abuse and prevent pollution by taking simple steps to dispose of our unwanted drugs properly.
Be a good neighbor by taking these simple steps to practice safe drug disposal conveniently at home:
Find your closest drop box location for unused, unneeded or expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs: http://azdhs.gov/gis/rx-dropoff-locations/index.php
Discard your unused, unneeded or expired prescription and over-thecounter drugs in the drop box.
If you cannot locate a convenient drop box, then remove unused, unneeded or expired prescription drugs from their original containers and place them in an impermeable, non-descript container. Mix them with an encapsulating agent to further ensure they are not diverted or accidentally ingested by children or pets or contaminate groundwater. Then, seal the container tightly and throw it in the trash. ADEQ works diligently to inspect and regulate state pharmacies, hospitals and biohazardous waste transporters and treatment facilities to ensure medical and biohazardous wastes are properly disposed. While ADEQ does not regulate your personal pharmaceutical and medical wastes, we do offer resources and guidance for proper and convenient disposal of these unwanted products, as well as environmental impacts due to improper disposal on our website at:
• azdeq.gov/PrescriptionDrugDisposal
• azdeq.gov/PharmaceuticalsPersonalCareProducts
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