Analytical Chemist -WYETH-USA- Pearl River, NY, United States

This topic, I find, has never been discussed very thoroughly. I wonder why? I mean, all of us know that drugs have an expiry date and that after that; they have to be disposed off of and not be left on the shelf. We also know the containers that drugs come in, are not necessary later and that it is best to dispose off of them. How do we go about this business of disposal?
Some may have come across suggestions such as mix the medication with water, then with some unpalatable solids such as coffee grounds or fruit peels, and dispose it in household trash- which is an environmental disaster just waiting to happen. Consider hormone containing drugs such as birth control pills. When they are dissolved in water, mixed with sawdust, and dumped, it is equivalent to putting hormones in the water table instead of directly in the waterways that flow into sewage treatment areas. Obviously, this proves that flushing expired medicines down the toilet is just as bad.