Significant Ways Of Scheduled Drug Disposal

By Anthony Scott


Medicines are useful in treating different diseases and medical conditions. However, when they are no longer required for use, they have to be appropriately disposed to reduce intentional misuse or accidental exposure to the entire household. Therefore, there is a need for people to be taught on how to dispose unused medicines from their cabinets. Below are special instructions and options that you should consider when conducting scheduled drug disposal from your home.

All drugs have a period of which they remain effective after they have been consumed. Some expire within a few hours especially if they are out of refrigeration while others may still be used for weeks or months. Keeping expired drugs in your home could be hazardous to young kids and adults who may take them without realizing that they are outdated. Therefore, to keep your household safe from the deadly drugs, you should dispose of them as soon as they reach their expiration date.

Once some medicines have been prescribed for you, you are supposed to keep them where not every person can tamper with them. However, after recovery, the remainder should be disposed of immediately. Most people throw the medicines in a dustbin awaiting its fullness before they can burn them. Keep in them closed containers and send them to the main collection bin at the roadside.

A prescribed medicine is issued with details of the user and directions on how it should be taken. For safety measures and clearance of your name from foreigners who might come in touch with the containers after its disposal, scrap off your details. This will prevent your identity from being stolen. As such, rip off labels used or scratch them out.

Most developed areas have programs for take-back where the community gives or donates any of their unused drugs and other items. The program is effective in disposing of such items and could be helpful in disposing of the expired drugs that come in large quantity. Moreover, if such programs hardly exist in your area, call the local government bodies responsible for control of drugs to give you a hand in the drug disposal.

The drug enforcement body is mandated with regulating drug industry. Apart from recommending and following up medical practitioners, it is responsible for unneeded drugs disposal. They send their collection vans to clinics, hospitals, pharmacies, and other areas where medical attention is offered. Call them up to give you details on where you can use it for collection at a later date.

Abstain from flushing medical in your toilet. Houses are built in a way that their sewerage system leads to rivers and lakes after going through treatment from the water cleaning site. The medication leaves some residues which could be harmful to animals and insects whose lives depend on water from lakes and rivers.

Check expiry dates of medicine in your home often. Repeat the exercise every three months to ensure no single dose that has expired is left in the cabinets. Use the legalized means in disposing of them and maintain a healthy and a stress-free family where kids can roam in the house without fear of coming into contact with hazardous drugs.




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