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July 15, 2021

How do you dispose of old medicine in Australia?

Medicines tend to build up in the home over time – packets of painkillers, supplements for wellbeing, vitamins for the winter months, prescriptions for former ailments and a whole lot more. 

As we head towards spring, now is as good a time as ever to think about sorting and clearing out your medicine bin of any unwanted or expired medicines. Having these in the home can pose a risk to your pets, your family, and yourself, so the more up to date your medicine cabinet is, the better. 

So, how do you dispose of old medicine? 

First, you want to collect all of your unwanted medicine, and remove it from its packaging and place it into either a ziplock bag or a tupperware container. This could mean emptying pills from a bottle, or removing a foilstrip out of the cardboard packaging. 

Then all you need to do is take your unwanted and expired medicine to any local pharmacy, head to the counter, and let the pharmacist that you want to dispose of your medicine using the RUM bin. They will either empty your tupperware container directly into the RUM bin or throw away the ziplock bag with the medicine in it.

Your medicine is then securely and safely stored within the RUM bin, until it is transported securely to an EPA approved incinerator where it is quickly destroyed. So, do your part for the environment and for the safety of your home, and go and sort out your medicines. 

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