I want to donate my prescription medicine bottles to the Humane Society. Can anyone tell me how to get the labels off when they are really stuck?
By Lorraine from St. Louis
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Soak them in warm soapy water for about ten minutes and they shoud come right off! Another way is to use some type of cooking oil on a cloth and rub until they're gone.
Goo Gone or Goo Off is supposed to be great for removing sticky stuff, but I haven't tried it.
Good Luck!
I tried this method and it didn't work for me. I still had the glue on the pill bottles and they were sticky.
I use a hair dryer to warm the labels and then they just peel off nicely! Veterinarians also take clean prescription bottles. I divide ours up between the vets in town (My hubby has had a liver transplant so we go through bunches).
Grandma Jan and Kato the Wonder Dog
I truly wouldn't want to re-cycle a prescription bottle knowing that my beloved animal is getting a med in them. I wouldn't put gum or candy or anything consumable in them. They can be recycled by your city.
An older child who is used to seeing a prescription bottle could accidentally take deadly meds or try to break the bottle open with a rock. Kids can teach adults many unfortunate lessons. I would only use them for small craft items.
All medicine containers should be locked up. I thoroughly rinse mine out, soak and scrap the labels off and, when I think of it, I crush them so they can't be re-used by anyone for anything. I would be appalled if thought I received anything in a used script bottle.
It's great to be frugal and brainstorm and I'm not saying that there are not some cute ideas for re-using the bottles- I'm not trying to offend anyone. I'm truly voicing some concerns I have. Thank you.
my dad uses them to store screws and bolts in, actually. More handy than the plastic containers because of the gaps in the top.
I'd normally agree if the idea was to use them around the house for one's personal use (or to start storing aspirin or something), but the OP is asking this so that she can donate the empty bottles to the Humane Society. When animals are rescued and fostered outside of a shelter, etc., they need to be able to take home deworming medicine at the time they pick up the dogs.
And they'd be thoroughly cleaned so there'd be no residue from the previous med.
Try lighter fluid. It works for taking labels off magazines, stamps off envelopes, etc. It evaporates in a few seconds and leaves no residue behind. Or on the plastic pill bottles, vegetable oil might work, also.
The best way to remove labels from medicine bottles:
1. Heat water up to boiling (tea kettle works best)
2. Pour the water in the bottles once hot.
3. Put cap back on medicine bottle.
4. Wait One minute or until the label will come up by scratching corner with finger nail
5. Pull label off and re-stick to sheet of paper to shred.
This did work to get the labels off, but the medicine bottles melted. It might work on some bottles with thicker plastic, but it didn't work on the medicine bottles provided by my pharmacy.
1. Immerse vial in small bowl or cup of water.
2. Microwave for 2 minutes.
3. Peel label off with fingernail.
4. Remove residual glue with "Goo Gone" or similar product.
I also go through a lot, and donate them to Medicine Bottles for Malawi, and the coolest, easiest, no-peel way I've found to get them off is by spraying them with Goo-Gone, wrap in a paper towel, wait overnight, then when you take the paper towel off, the entire label comes with it! No residue left! Just don't do what my mother-in-law did: Used a Sharpie to cross out everything and then gave them to me to do the Goo-Gone. I was covered in Sharpie.
Goo Gone, a product that removes anything sticky. It's great and really works. You can get it at Walmart and other stores.
I can usually get the labels off if I peel veeeeryy slowly. also soaking them in hot water helps. How does one donate them to the Humane Society?
We remove the lables for the missionaries. We pull off as much dry and then pour hot water over them.
30 seconds in microwave and then remove the label.
Put hot water in the bottle, let sit two minutes, put the lid on and let sit two more minutes. Peel label off. This works really well
First, score the labels...I use a razor blade to make lines one way and then the other way, making little squares. DO NOT PRESS SO HARD,
since you don't want to cut the bottle. Just scratch the surface. Now, let it sit in a sink of very hot water. I actually start working the surface right away BRIEFLY, to create spaces that the water can penetrate.
I put jars, bottles etc in the microwave and add some water. The heat and steam will release the labels without any messy residue left .
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