Why medicine disposal matters
Old and unwanted medicines lying around at home can be a real hazard. Children or pets might find and ingest them, and they can harm our environment if they’re not disposed of correctly.
Don’t flush!
You should never flush medicines down the toilet or pour them down the sink. Our water-treatment systems aren’t designed to filter out all those pharmaceutical chemicals, and many can end up in our rivers, oceans and drinking water. Even chucking them in the bin isn’t great – once in landfill, those chemicals can still leach into the soil and groundwater.
The simple, safe solution – the RUM Project
That’s where the Return Unwanted Medicines (RUM) Project comes in. It’s a national program that lets you return expired or unwanted medicines to your local pharmacy, where they’ll be disposed of properly and safely – at no cost to you.
The RUM Project is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Health and Aged Care, and it’s fully funded until 30 June 2026.
What you can return
You can return almost any kind of household medicine, including:
- Prescription medications
- Over-the-counter medicines
- Herbal complementary supplements
- Creams, gels, and liquids
- Asthma inhalers with remaining medication
- Pet medicines
What you can’t return
Items like needles, syringes, or sharps shouldn’t go into the RUM bin. Your pharmacist can help with alternative safe-disposal methods for these.
How to return your unwanted medicines
It’s simple and fuss-free:
- Check your medicine cabinet: Look for anything expired, damaged, or no longer needed.
- Remove packaging: Recycle cardboard boxes and paper leaflets at home if possible.
- Drop them off: Take them to your local participating pharmacy and hand them to the pharmacist.
Your pharmacist will place them in a secure RUM bin, where they’re collected and sent for high-temperature incineration at licensed facilities. This is the safest way to make sure these medicines are destroyed – they’re never reused or recycled.
So next time you spot an out-of-date pack of antibiotics or a dusty old nasal spray at the back of the drawer – don’t bin it, and don’t flush it. Just take it to your local RUM pharmacy.
For more information or to find participating pharmacies, head to: returnmed.com.au
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