Return your unwanted medicines to your pharmacy for safe disposal
Consumers have been accustomed to disposing of unwanted and out-of-date medicines using general waste and sewerage options.
Having regard to the potential dangers in retaining these medicines in the home, and environmental considerations, consumers need to know the appropriate action for medicine disposal – and to be encouraged to use this option.
Old medicines lying around the home ‘just in case’ are dangerous…
If taken when they’re out-of-date
If taken when not prescribed for you
If in reach of little prying fingers
The RUM Project provides the safest and easiest way to dispose of unwanted and out-of-date medicines.
It makes possible the return of all household medicines to any pharmacy at anytime – for free and safe collection and disposal.
Think before you throw
Unwanted medicines are often dumped into the toilet, tipped down the sink or put out with the garbage, which starts a journey that can seriously harm the environment.
More than 500 tonnes of medicines find their way into waterways and landfill every year.
We need to change our behaviours to solve this problem and give the environment a chance.
Sewerage plants can’t treat all chemicals in waste water, resulting in contamination of waterways.
Household medicines contain highly soluble chemicals which when entered into water systems can harm aquatic life.
Household medicines disposed of this way end up in exposed landfill sites
Returning Medicines
By returning out-of-date and unwanted medicines to your local pharmacy, we can make our home a safer place.
This is all you need to do… its really easy
- Go to your home medicine area.
- Check expiry dates on all your medicines and separate all expired medicines into a container for return.
- Check that you actually need all the medicines – separate those medicines no longer needed into the container for return.
- Take the container to Eden Rise Pharmacy for disposal.
