I contacted my HMO pharmacy about disposing of old expired and unused medications and their respomse was that I should ask my refuse collection people about it.
Is that normal policy? I think the pharmacy should take it back. I’d be tempted to simply toss it all into the regular trash, which is a bad idea. Some of the stuff could be harmful. Flushing it doesn’t seem like a good idea either. These are controlled substances.
I will contact the local waste people, but how is it done where you live?
Peace,
mangeorge
I just save mine for the trick-or-treaters.
Flush 'em. That’s where they end up anyway.
Knock knock. 
The old “right way” was to simply flush your old pills down the toilet. The reason for the change is that antibiotics were not only messing with the digesters in the waste treatment plant, but they passed through into the river. River-caught fish showed traces of human estrogen. It’s not clear what harm comes to the fish when they get more womanly ("hello,sailor 
") but locally caught catfish or bluegill are eaten by humans. Will an avid fisherman get big breasts? I can’t answer that.
Anyway, the new position is that drugs should no longer be flushed. Your local waste handler may have a special technique. If not, I won’t pretend to know what to tell you.
That’s what I’m a little concerned about. They don’t offer solutions either.
How come nobody calls tadpoles “pollywogs”?
So maybe all those stories of mermaids was a prognostication? 
I work in a doctor’s office, and we dispose of expired samples by putting them in with the biohazard stuff. Maybe your doctor’s office will take your old meds?
I live next door to you in El Cerrito and the Contra Costa County waste disposal people sent a flyer out regarding various types of hazardous waste. They specifically say to not dispose of medication down the drain/toilet. Best method is to take it to the local hazardous waste place (not sure where that is in Berkeley, for CoCoCo it’s in Richmond). Second best method that they recommend is to mix it with something unpalatable (their example is used kitty litter), place in a plastic bag and put it in your garbage).
Thanks. I’ll look for that in Alameda County. I did email the regular waste management people, but haven’t heard back yet.
I frequent Nib’s for breakfast. It’s one of those rare places I can get rice for my easy eggs. There’s a crazy Korean woman there (the owner?) who hollers at you as you leave.
I’ll click over to our haz waste site right now.
Again, thanks.
By some coincidence I just this minute got another flyer in the mail from the Stege sanitary district and it’s got the “Proper disposal of medicines” bit on it. The CoCoCo hazardous waste disposal place is only for county residents, they want proof of residency (i.e. driver’s license or similar).
Here’s the link for Alameda county’s hazmat disposal places:
They’ve got a station in Oakland (I seem to recall there is/was one right off the 23rd street exit of 880 on the way to Alameda, it’s just a block or two before you actually go over the bridge to the island).
Speaking of hazardous waste, Nib’s is rather nice 
Kidding, I’ve had breakfast there a few times - great French Toast. The family who runs it seems very nice. I live just a few blocks from there, mebbe see you there sometime.
Funnily enough, I asked the refuse collectors this exact same question with respect to my aunt’s stuff - she hadn’t chucked out my grandmother’s stuff. Some of the medicines were 40 years old. :eek:
They said to just chuck it all in the bin.
At first I read that as “for CoCoCo it’s Richmond” and thought “That’s a bit harsh, no?”
I’m surprised that the pharmacy wouldn’t take the drugs. If you visit a hospital anytime soon, you might ask there. I believe they have bins for medication disposal (separate from the biohazard bins).
And according to this link on the City of Berkeley’s website, any pharmacy should be able to dispose of the medications:
The pharmacy’s at the hospital. Kaiser Hospital.
Where’d you find that? I looked all over that site.
Thanks, I’ll drop by a local drugstore and see.
Where I live (Alberta), you can take you old medications to a pharmacy and they have a program called ENVIRx where old medications are incinerated.
If the pharmacy doesn’t have a system already in place for doing that(and I’ve never heard of one that does), it would cause major issues with their inventory controls. They send back 4 units of, say, oxycontin, and their inventory system will assume they now have 4 fewer units. This will screw up their ordering(always thinking they have 4 fewer than they do), and more importantly, it will screw with any audits the company(or the government!) does on their stock.
I’m not expecting the pharmacy to return the medications to the pharmaceutical company, but instead to collect them for proper disposal.