I’ve searched quite a bit for how to dispose of expired epipens and haven’t found a good solution. My pediatrician’s office will not accept them. The medicine disposal box at the police station won’t accept it because it has a syringe, and the sharps disposal station at the hospital won’t accept the syringe because it has medication inside. I don’t know of a safe way to separate the medication from the syringe. I don’t want to be irresponsible and just throw them in the trash. What am I to do with this rapidly expanding pile of expired but unused auto-injectors? With the rates of food allergies these days, surely I’m not the only parent with this problem.
Take it back to the pharmacy.
I have been told that a way to remove the medicine is to inject it into an orange, apple or other fruit with a firm-enough skin to trigger the injector.
I have not been told what to do with the fruit afterwards, but think it would be safe for garbage headed for a landfill.
What’s wrong with simply disposing of them in the regular garbage? There is no risk of a needle-stick infection if the device was not used (and isn’t the needle retracted anyhow?).
How many months are they past expiration? If only a short time, you can keep them for use–Google this question.
I am with Dewey–put them in the regular garbage–containing them such that a sanitation worker won’t accidentally stick himself.
This article from Consumer Reports suggests that or a doctor’s office or hospital for disposing of expired epipens.
If a hospital won’t accept them because they’re filled with meds*, empty them. Someone mentioned shooting it into an orange. If they said that at the hospital, you could have walked outside and shot it into the ground. And while I’m not suggesting this, you can even hold back the end with your fingers, very carefully, and shoot it into the air (or a garbage can etc).
No, there’s no risk from a needle stick, unless a few things happen. It would have to be removed from it’s case, the safety cap taken off and the bottom pushed in. It’s not likely, but it certainly could happen.
However, after it injects you, the needle retracts again, so at that point there’s no meds in it.
Anyways, it’s perfectly acceptable to put sharps into a hard plastic bottle. You can put them in an old laundry detergent bottle and throw it away.
*I’m surprised that they wouldn’t put it in their sharps container since it was full of meds. I’ve seen nurses/docs put full syringes into those containers when they ended up not being used, but can’t be put back in inventory.
I just toss mine in the trash.
the drop box at the pharmacy has the same restrictions as the one at the police station: no needles.
In theory, yes. But once it goes into a trash compacting truck that could crack the case and cap, all bets could be off. I’d hate to be responsible for a sanitation worker, or even some wild animal at the landfill getting stuck and injected.
True, but once it goes into garbage truck it’s not likely to ever be touched again. The only people that have access to it at that point are the garbage collection workers and they are likely smart enough not to go picking through it, for exactly that reason.
Here’s what I found for NJ (I assume that’s your state. I believe you can put your zip code in at the top to find sharps disposal locations.
Also, I don’t want to sound like I don’t care, but this is one single (sanitary) epipen. It’s not going to pose a big threat. If you were on a medication that resulted in you having 50 or 100 syringes every month, yes, I’d suggest putting more work into it than tossing it in the garbage.
Seems like a plan, thanks. I’m just surprised there isn’t a place to accept them, like other meds. It’s a pretty common medication.
It’s more than one. Each comes in a pack of 2 (you’re supposed to use a second if the first doesn’t take effect). We get two packs at a time, one for home and one for school, and they expire about once a year (12-18months) and my son’s been getting them for the past 5 years, so they’ve piled up. I’ve got about 20 of them in a bag in my car, in search of somewhere to take them. Not 50 a month, no, but a substantial number.
Ahh, I didn’t realize it was that many. I know you said that pharmacy doesn’t take them, but you didn’t specify which pharmacy it was. It looks like Walgreens might take them.
But if you have that many, maybe just unload them all, but them back in their cases and try the hospital again.
Yeah, it’s Walgreens, and no, they don’t:
"Restricted items
^Needles & thermometers"
Another option may be to just buy a small sharps container. Some (many?) of them come with prepaid postage to get them to whoever handles the used needles.
The only problem there is that those epipens are pretty bulky and IIRC, they’re a PITA to take a apart if you only want to put the vial (with the attached needle) in the container.
I put all my used insulin syringes in a glass jar. When the jar gets full, I thoroughly seal it with duct tape and throw it into the trash.
I’ve encountered this issue also and it appalls me that doctor’s offices, hospitals and pharmacies who all have the ability to deal with medical waste don’t take care of this for their patients. This stuff needs to be incinerated and shouldn’t really end up in our landfills. That being said, since those places are so unhelpful, I put my used syringes into a sharps container and throw it into my trash too.
Interestingly, when I started an at-home injection med, I was provided with a sharps container and pre-printed return label. I could be wrong, but I think if I send it in, they’ll send me a new one.
I’m somewhat surprised that this isn’t standard. Granted, it’s a very new, name brand med so it’s pricey and there’s not going to be generics on the market for years. But what about diabetics? Surely they aren’t spending everyday wondering what to do with their used needles.
My understanding is that this is an issue unique to expired syringes that still have the medication inside. Disposing of empty sharps is no problem. the hospital would have taken them.