Any place to recycle prescription bottles. I can't stand to put them in the trash and then to the landfill, but no one in our area will take them. Can you help? J. C.
Don't know if you're in the US or in Canada. I asked our pharmacist here in Canada once why they can't reuse them. He replied that they're not allowed to as they'd have to sanitize them and have no place to do it. Shame though. (01/21/2005)
By Sandi
Maybe you can give them to a children's day care center. They always have small crafts to do. They can be made into little bird houses, as an example. (01/21/2005)
I recently read that the local vet and animal shelters will reuse them. (01/21/2005)
By Anna from Maine
I like to melt them. I put them on an aluminum throw away pan, or a piece of foil. After they melt they make great jewelry. Just drill a small hole in them, to put on a rope chain, or use to make earrings. They are very hard, and will not break or crack. They can also be used for checker pieces, etc. (01/21/2005)
By Rosa
Wash them out and let dry very good, use them to store your flower seeds in, they make wonderful seed holders. Just put a small label inside with the date and kind of seed. They store very well in the fridge (if they have to be kept cold), or in a Tupperware or a cardboard box. (01/21/2005)
By Rosa
Ask at all your local pharmacies, one here in town finally remembered that a local church has a mission in Haiti. They collect used prescription bottles to send there. In Haiti, the clinic has medications in enormous bottles, and they need smaller bottles to dispense into when they send the medicines home with a patient. I now save all my bottles for this church, removing all of the identifying stickers first, of course.
Here are a few other ways I use prescription bottles:
By Becki in Indiana
I use acrylic paint for many small projects. Often I have to mix colors. These medicine bottles are perfect for storing the mixes while I am working with my project. The bottles can be reused for other colors if you wash them out when done. (01/30/2005)
By GrannyZ
Our curbside recycling takes them. (11/14/2005)
By Melanie
I applaud all your efforts here at trying to find a use for these, but in all honesty, these bottles can't cost more than a couple cents each. If third world countries need medicine bottles wouldn't it make sense to contribute a little money and let them buy them by the thousands direct from the manufacturer? It couldn't cost much and would be much much cheaper than sending multiple shipments of used ones and would also save the cost of cleaning them.
Editor's Note: Unfortunately, most places will not take prescription bottles.
"Why can't prescription or vitamin bottles be recycled?"
"Prescription and vitamin bottles go through a different manufacturing process and, as a result, do not have the same melting temperature as other plastic bottles. (You'll notice they are much, much harder than other narrow-necked bottles.) They have a different consistency at the same temperature (sometimes thinking of soup versus pudding is helpful), making them incompatible in a re-manufacturing process.
from http://www.ecocycle.org/faq/containers.cfm (04/17/2006)
By A Pragmatist
I am so glad to see other people feel the same as I do about the recycle of prescription bottles. I had wondered for years what could be done with used prescription bottles. They can also be used for hand cream, shampoo, cream rinse, and other traveling items for traveling. (10/21/2007)
By Jacqueline T.
The law here is that we can reuse your prescription bottles and place your new medicines in them, however the cap MUST be replaced as the threading may not allow it to remain childproof. Check with your pharmacist in your state. (12/13/2007)
By pharmacist
I just called my local Rite Aid and they do accept used medicine bottles. They said they have them shredded, so it sounds like they don't reuse them; they may or may not recycle them. Neither my local Walgreen's or CVS accepted used prescription bottles.
Also, I asked Rite Aid what I should do with old/expired medication. I was told to put them in the garbage disposal and run them. Some quick research on the internet suggests disposing them in the trash may be better, but to not make it easy for children to find and potentially consume. (01/19/2008)
By Paul
If these bottles can't be recycled, then why does every pharmacy in America use them? How about we call upon Congress to BAN them and use a plastic that is recyclable? It has always irked me that I have to throw out so many prescription bottles each year. Multiply that by the hundreds of millions of bottles out there then you're probably talking a whole lot of landfill space. (03/12/2008)
By Rocky
Federal law prohibits pharmacies from reusing prescription bottles because the continuous use of these bottles may make them less child resistant, unless the bottles are glass, then your pharmacist may be able to reuse your bottles. Sorry! I work in a pharmacy and see the waste, but between the law and patient's privacy we can't reuse your old bottle. (03/14/2008)
By Von
I bought a great product that helps me keep track of my child's medication called the Dose Keeper. Anyways, they started National Safety Dose Day where they encourage everyone to go into their medicine cabinets and get rid of expired medicine bottles. Then Safety Dose Day people hold drives across the nation collecting empty medicine bottles. They then donate them to a homeless shelter who reuses them for shampoo, hand cream, and other semi-liquids in so that homeless people can have a small supply of health products that are easy to carry. Great cause for humanity and the earth!
(03/29/2008)
By Jules
Oops, the website that has the information on National Safety Dose Day is www.dosekeeper.com
(03/29/2008)
By Jules
If you throw away prescription bottles it'll either go into a landfill or get burned at a waste facility that burns municipal trash like the city of Long Beach, CA. When the plastic burns, they release dioxin which is known to cause cancer.
My city doesn't have a recycling program but I'm going to remove the paper label (as much as possible) and take it to a place that accepts plastics for recycling. (06/18/2008)
By Marcy
The red prescription bottles from Target pharmacy are made from #1 PETE plastic which is easily recyclable anywhere. Transfer or fill your prescriptions at Target and give up the old #5 orange bottles which everyone else seems to use. It's better for you and the planet. (07/21/2008)
By Gary
Re: Melanie "Our curbside recycling does take them."
Mine also takes lots of stuff--then promptly transfers what they can't legally recycle to a landfill. Unfortunately, just picking them up is no guarantee that they are being recycled. (08/07/2008)
By Mickey7
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