यह पन्ना मशीन से अनुवाद किया गया है
इस अनुवाद को अभी किसी डॉक्टर ने नहीं जाँचा है। अर्थ सही होना चाहिए, लेकिन अगर कुछ अस्पष्ट या ग़लत लगे तो अंग्रेज़ी मूल पढ़ें।
अंग्रेज़ी में मूल पढ़ेंDo not flush them and do not drop loose tablets into an open bin. Most Indian cities now collect expired medicine as domestic hazardous waste, kept separate from wet and dry waste.
संक्षेप में
- Never flush medicines down the toilet or sink
- Never put loose tablets in an open bin where a child, animal or waste picker can reach them
- Most cities class them as domestic hazardous waste — check your corporation's own bin list
- Many pharmacies and hospitals will take them back if you ask
- If nothing else is available: remove your name from the label, take tablets out of the strip, mix with used tea leaves or soil, seal in a bag
There are two wrong ways to get rid of medicine, and both feel sensible at the time.
Flushing is the first. It puts active drug into water that eventually reaches rivers and groundwater, and antibiotics in water are one of the ways resistant bacteria develop outside the human body. Treatment plants are not designed to remove these compounds.
Dropping loose tablets into an open household bin is the second. Indian waste is handled by people, sorted by hand, and picked over by animals. Strong medicines — heart tablets, sleeping tablets, strips of painkillers — are reachable there by a child or a stray dog, and reusable by anyone who finds a full strip.
The right route depends on your city. Most municipal corporations have moved to three or more waste streams, with a separate category for domestic hazardous waste, which is where expired medicine belongs alongside batteries, bulbs and old paint. The bin colours and names differ between cities, so the authority is your own corporation's published list, not a general rule. If your area has a collection day for hazardous household waste, that is the correct answer.
The simpler route, where it exists, is to hand them back. Many pharmacies accept expired medicine for disposal through the channels they already use for their own stock, and hospital pharmacies usually do. It costs nothing to ask when you next collect a prescription, and it removes the problem entirely.
If neither is available where you live, make them unattractive and unusable before they leave the house. Scratch out or remove the part of the label with your name and the prescription details. Push tablets out of their strips. Mix them into something nobody and nothing would eat — used tea leaves, coffee grounds, soil. Seal that in a bag, then put it out with your dry or hazardous waste rather than your food waste.
Needles, insulin pens and lancets are a separate matter and must never go loose into any bin. They need a puncture-proof container, and most clinics and chemists will accept a sealed one.
One last thing worth doing today. Go through the medicine box now rather than when you need it. Most Indian homes have a half-used antibiotic, an old cough syrup and a strip of painkillers with the date rubbed off, and the moment someone is ill at eleven at night is exactly when those get taken.
अक्सर पूछे जाने वाले सवाल
Which bin do expired medicines go in?
It depends on your city, so check your municipal corporation's own list rather than guessing. Most now have a domestic hazardous waste category, separate from wet and dry waste, and that is where medicines belong. Where no such collection exists, seal them as described above and put them with dry waste — never with food waste.
Can I flush expired medicines down the toilet?
No. Sewage treatment does not remove most drug compounds, so they pass into rivers and groundwater. Flushed antibiotics in particular contribute to resistant bacteria developing in the environment.
Will a pharmacy take back my expired medicines?
Many will, and hospital pharmacies usually do, because they already have a disposal route for their own expired stock. It is worth asking when you next collect a prescription — it is the cleanest option available to most households.
Is expired medicine dangerous, or just weak?
Usually weaker rather than poisonous, and that is the real risk — a weak antibiotic half-treats an infection, and a weak emergency medicine fails when you need it most. A few medicines do break down into compounds you would not want to swallow. Either way, past the date it should not be taken.
How should I dispose of insulin needles and lancets?
Never loose in a bin. Put them in a hard, puncture-proof container with a lid — a thick plastic bottle will do if nothing else is available — and hand the sealed container to a clinic or chemist that accepts sharps.