How to Recycle Medication Bottles

The amber plastic pill bottles are often difficult to recycle.

Most medication bottles are either made of High-density polyethylene, or HDPE, plastic, which is the heavier plastic often used to hold cleaning solutions, or the amber Polypropylene, or PP, plastic, which is more rarely recycled. The Environmental Protection Agency commissioned a study by the Northeast Recycling Council to ascertain the best practices for recycling medicine bottles. That November 2005 study concluded that you could more easily recycle HDPE and that you can only recycle PP when it is available. The crucial step to recycling medicine bottles is careful disposal of the medicine and removal of the prescription label.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Dispose of any remaining medication in the bottle before recycling the bottle. Mix medications with coffee grounds or kitty litter to prevent someone fishing them out and using them. Never dump medications down the toilet or in the trash without altering them.

2. Remove prescription labels from all bottles before recycling them. Soak the bottle in hot water if necessary to remove it or at least all the information about the doctor, patient and type of prescription. Recycle centers are under no obligation of privacy for materials that they handle. Someone could misuse information gained from a prescription label.

3. Check the number on the bottom of the bottle inside the three-arrow recycle symbol. Not all bottles with this symbol are recyclable. The important information on the bottle is the number, which tells what kinds of plastics match the bottle you want to recycle. Add the number 2 HDPE bottles in with heavier bottles such as laundry detergent bottles.

4. Check with your recycling company if it accepts the amber colored Polypropelyne bottles labeled with the number 5 on the bottom. Some recycling centers do not have enough plastic of this type to recycle and it doesn't work with their normal recycle stream. You can try to return these bottles to the pharmacy if your recycle center doesn't accept them.

References

• Northeast Recycling Council Inc.: Best Management Practices for Plastic Medication Containers