Drug disposal

Couple of relatives have died recently, and I’ve inherited their unused prescription drug stash.

It’s about 5 carrier bags full, and I’ve separated it into…

Blister packs
plastic bottles
glass bottles
aerosols
metal tubes

Seems like pharmacies should take them in for disposal, can I just rock up at any boots say and expect them to be taken off my hands?

Yes

What poly said.

Anything good you might want to “firget to bin”

Nice one, thanks all.

Yes, any pharmacy will dispose of them. I’ve had to do this twice recently with no issues. I t may be a good idea that it there are any controlled drugs in there, that they are handed over seperately.

If there is an identifiable name on any of the containers the pharmacy will want them removed or blacked out first.

If there is an identifiable name on any of the containers the pharmacy will want them removed or blacked out first.

Not in my experience but some pharmacists are undoubtedly weird!  Some might even claim that its a GDPR issue although the OP could then roll his eyes at them and point our GDPR only applies to living people!

It’s about 5 carrier bags full, and I’ve separated it into…

Blister packs
plastic bottles
glass bottles
aerosols
metal tubes

Wow, in 27 years I’ve never had anyone do this with returned medicines. I have had a couple of false eyes in with the pills though.
Just take it to the most convenient pharmacy. We are all provided with bins for incineration and are paid by the NHS to deal with it. Separation of any morphine type drugs etc is appreciated as they have to be denatured before disposal.

Separation of any morphine type drugs etc is appreciated as they have to be denatured before disposal.

Is ‘denatured’ a fancy way of saying ‘swapped for tic-tacs’?

Edit

there are charities that redistribute un-used pharmaceuticals in parts of the world where they are needed

Intercare is one – there are bound to be others – they are usually partnered with either GP surgeries or pharmacies who’ll received the medicines and pass them on. So might be worth researching a few and seeing if theres anywhere locally you can donate.

Timely thread as I’ve got a a couple of carriers worth weekly boxes of prescription my mam. Better check the repeat prescription has been cancelled. I’d assume the GP knows she’s died, but maybe not everything is linked up.

If theres any controlled drugs in there it’d be helpful to the pharmacy and be quicker for you if you separate them from the rest of the meds.

Two local pharmacies told me they did not have space to take step dads left over drugs after his death. Yet both went off the deep end when I said shall I just put them in the bin then.

id ring first just to check

I’m pretty sure that (in England at least) that it’s part of the NHS contract that they have to take them.  They don’t pay for the disposal, the NHS cover the cost.

Two local pharmacies told me they did not have space to take step dads left over drugs after his death. Yet both went off the deep end when I said shall I just put them in the bin then.

To which my response would be “it’s your job to dispose of unused prescription drugs, I’ll just leave them on the counter, then” and walk away.

As it happens, the pharmacy that I always use were perfectly happy to take my partner’s leftover medication, but there weren’t more than half a dozen boxes in total, IIRC.