What Should You Do With Expired or Leftover Medications?
Key takeaways:
The best way to dispose of expired or unused medications is to take them to a local drug take-back location. Needles, syringes, and autoinjectors should be placed into a sharps container before you dispose of them.
If a local take-back location isn’t available, you can throw most medications away in the trash. There are specific steps to follow to do this properly. Some medications can be flushed down the toilet, but you should only do this if your medication is on the FDA’s flush list.
If you have leftover or unused medication that’s not expired, some states have drug repository programs that accept donations to give to people in need.
It can happen over time or after the loss of a loved one: Expired and unused medications piled up in cabinets, drawers, and other places around the home. Outdated pills can pose a risk to your safety as well as others if they fall into the wrong hands or are taken by accident. But what’s the best way to dispose of medication?
Here, we’ll go over your options for getting rid of old medicine and how to find a disposal option near you.
What happens to medications when they expire?
It’s easy to forget that pills expire, because unlike food, they don’t typically spoil or smell bad. But an expiration date is required on all pill bottles and packages that contain prescription medication, per the FDA.
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When medications expire, several things can happen. The active ingredient may lose potency, meaning it isn’t as effective as it should be. The medication can also become contaminated with moisture or bacteria. Or the active ingredient can degrade into something that’s harmful, although this isn’t common.
How fast medications lose their effectiveness is the source of some debate. It largely depends on how it’s stored, what type of dosage form it is, and the stability of the active ingredient.
Good to know: If a medication gets wet, is kept at temperatures outside the recommended range, or changes in color or appearance, don’t take it — even if the expiration date is still good. These are all signs that the medication isn’t safe to take. Contact your pharmacy or prescriber for guidance, and dispose of the medication once they’ve confirmed you don’t need to return it.
What happens when you take expired medicine?
Several things can happen if you take medication that’s expired. The most likely is that you won’t get the treatment you need. Many medications lose potency over time, so they won’t work as well as they should if you take them after they’re expired.
If the medication becomes contaminated with bacteria or other germs, you can get sick or develop an infection if you take it. This is more likely with expired liquids, such as eye drops or liquid antibiotics.
One antibiotic, tetracycline, can actually become harmful if you take it after it’s expired. The active ingredient breaks down into toxic chemicals over time. Expired tetracycline can cause a form of kidney failure called Fanconi syndrome.
What’s the best way to dispose of leftover or expired medications?
There are several safe ways to get rid of outdated medications.
Drug take-back locations
The best way to dispose of medication is to drop it off at a drug take-back location.
Is it safe to take expired medications? Here’s what you should know about the possible risks.
Safe needle disposal: Sharps, such as needles and syringes, should be disposed of differently than medications. Learn how to discard sharps properly.
Donating unused medication: Drug repository programs can help redirect your unused medication to people in need.
Many pharmacies, healthcare facilities, and local law enforcement offices have permanent drug take-back boxes. You can find a location near you through the FDA’s drug disposal website or DisposeMyMeds.org.
The Drug Enforcement Administration also has a National Prescription Drug Take Back Day that’s held twice every year. You can search for a location near you on their website.
Before you discard your medications in a drop-off bin, be sure to remove the labels or block out your personal information with a permanent marker. You should also check to make sure you meet the take-back requirements. In most cases, the following items aren’t allowed:
Needles and syringes
Autoinjectors, such as EpiPen (epinephrine) and Wegovy (semaglutide)
Illegal drugs
Throw them away in the trash
If you can’t get to a take-back location, the next best option is to see if you can flush them down the toilet. If your expired medications aren’t flushable, you can throw them away in the trash. But there are some steps you should take to do this safely:
Remove the medication from its original container and place it in a bag or container that can be sealed. You can leave pills as is — don’t crush tablets or open capsules
Add an unappealing substance, such as coffee grounds, kitty litter, or dirt. You can also order a product called DisposeRx that you can mix with pills to dispose of them safely.
Seal the container, and throw it away in your garbage.
Be sure to mark out any personal information on the empty pill bottles or packages before throwing them away.
Can you flush expired or unused medications down the toilet?
Yes, but not all medications are flushable. You will need to see if your outdated pills are on the FDA’s flush list. Most flushable medications are opioids or other controlled substances that can be harmful if people come in contact with them. So flushing them is the safest way to dispose of them. You shouldn’t flush any medications that aren’t on the FDA’s list. Follow the instructions above for throwing them away in your household garbage.
How do you get rid of used or leftover needles and syringes safely?
Used needles or syringes, also known as “sharps,” can cause injury and exposure to infection. Even tiny needles that retract after use, like those in autoinjectors, carry this risk. So sharps should never be thrown loosely into the trash or flushed down the toilet.
Instead, you should place sharps into a dedicated sharps container. You can purchase FDA-cleared sharps containers at most pharmacies or online. If you don’t have an FDA-cleared sharps container, or yours is unexpectedly full, you can also use an empty household container. Just make sure it’s made of thick, sturdy plastic and has a tight-fitting lid. An empty laundry detergent bottle is an example of an acceptable sharps container alternative.
There are a couple of options for disposing of a sharps container when it’s full or you’re finished with it. Many FDA-cleared sharps containers come with instructions and a label so you can mail them for disposal. You can also drop off a sharps container at a local disposal site. SafeNeedleDisposal.org can help you find local sharps disposal locations that meet your state guidelines.
Can you throw away expired or empty inhalers?
It may seem like inhalers are easy to just throw in the trash, but you shouldn’t dispose of them that way unless the label says it’s safe. Some inhalers may explode if they’re punctured or kept at high temperatures (like in a hot garbage truck). This can happen even if an inhaler’s dose counter reads “0.”
You can dispose of inhalers at a drug take-back location. Or you can dispose of them according to the hazardous waste guidelines for your community.
Can you donate unused medication to someone who needs it?
You shouldn’t give your unused medication to someone else directly. It’s not safe to assume that the medication or dose that’s safe for you is also safe for someone else. But you may be able to donate unused medication that hasn't expired to a local drug repository program. These programs collect unused medications and help give them to people in need.
These programs are run by individual states, so how they work varies depending on where you live. But programs like SIRUM and your state board of pharmacy can help you find out how to donate medications in your state. In most cases, you can’t donate controlled substances or refrigerated medications. Additional rules may also apply.
Frequently asked questions
You shouldn’t take any medication after its expiration date if you can avoid it. And you should never take expired tetracycline. As a general rule, liquid antibiotics, insulin, and nitroglycerin are all medications most likely to break down quickly. And they treat conditions that can be life-threatening if the medication doesn’t work the way it should. So they’re especially unsafe to take past their expiration dates.
The shelf life of a medication is how long it remains safe to take. The expiration date is how long the full potency and safety of the medication can be guaranteed by the manufacturer. So a medication may have a shelf life of 10 years, meaning it won’t become harmful over that time. But it may lose potency after 2 years, so that’s where the expiration date is set.
The expiration date also takes “real world” conditions into account. A medication that’s been put into an orange pill bottle that will be opened every day and exposed to light and heat in your home will typically have a shorter expiration date than the sealed bottle of medication from the manufacturer that’s stored at a controlled temperature inside a pharmacy.
The bottom line
If you have leftover or expired medications, the best way to dispose of them is to use a drug take-back drop-off location near you. If this isn’t an option, you can dispose of your old medicine in your trash, but you must follow the guidelines for doing this safely. Some medications can be flushed down the toilet, but not most. Needles, syringes, and autoinjectors should be placed in a sharps container and disposed of following your local guidelines. Some states have programs for donating unused medications that aren’t expired to people in need.
Why trust our experts?
References
Arioua, A., et al. (2024). Use of expired drugs: Patients benefits versus industry interest. Japan Medical Association Journal.
Beery, S., et al. (2019). Can medications become harmful after the expiration date? Nursing 2024.
Cantrell, L., et al. (2012). Stability of active ingredients in long-expired prescription medications. Archive of Internal Medicine.
Code of Federal Regulations. (2024). §211.137 Expiration dating.
Davido, B., et al. (2024). Efficacy of expired antibiotics: A real debate in the context of repeated drug shortages. Antibiotics.
Keefe, P., et al. (2023). Fanconi syndrome. StatPearls.
National Conference of State Legislatures. (2024). State prescription drug repository programs.
U.S. Environmental Protections Agency. (2024). Household hazardous waste (HHW).
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2018). Drug disposal: Dispose "non-flush list" medicine in trash.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2020). Disposal of unused medicines: What you should know.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2020). Drug disposal: FDA’s flush list for certain medicines.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2021). Sharps disposal containers.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022). Drug disposal: Drug take back locations.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2022). Expiration dates – questions and answers.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2024). Where and how to dispose of unused medicines.
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