Ever wondered what happens when you dispose of your unwanted medicines?

Did you know there are set protocols for medication disposal in Australia?

According to the most recent figures, we are damaging our environment by incorrectly disposing of medicines in Australia.

Each year, more than 500 tonnes of incorrectly disposed medicines end up in our waterways and as landfill.

To help tackle this issue, in 1998, the Commonwealth Department of Health (DoH) launched the RUM (Return Your Unwanted Medicines) Project. Yet two decades later, we are still continuing to dispose of our medicines incorrectly.

The RUM Project urges consumers to be wary of old medicines lying around the home, which, if used incorrectly, could prove extremely dangerous. The Project cites many incorrect methods of medication disposal, such as flushing them down the toilet, pouring them down the sink, or even placing them in rubbish bins, which ultimately end up littering our waterways or in landfill.

To correctly dispose of unwanted medicines, follow these three simple tips from the RUM Project:

1. Head to your medicine cabinet.
2. Check the expiry dates on all of your medicines and separate all expired medicines into a container for return to your pharmacy.
3. Take the container to your local pharmacy for safe disposal.

The pharmacist who collects your out-of-date or unwanted medicines will place them in a RUM Project approved container which then gets collected by a wholesale delivery person, for subsequent incineration in a quarantine area.

At Blooms The Chemist, we are committed to ensuring all members of our community are familiar with how to correctly dispose of any unwanted medicines. We urge all of our customers to always read the label to determine whether a medicine is out-of-date before use and, to correctly and safely dispose of any unwanted medicines.

Should you have any questions about how to dispose of any unwanted medicines, talk to your local Blooms The Chemist pharmacist today.