Can I recycle my used prescription bottles?
Chanie Kirschner gauges your guilt, then dispenses advice on recycling and repurposing all that plastic.
Q: I take three regular prescription medicines a month, and each time I throw one of those pill bottles away, I feel just a little bit guilty. Is there any way to recycle them?- Old prescription bottles can be used to store the little things that are floating all over your bedroom dresser — collar stays, jewelry, ChapSticks, loose buttons. In the kitchen, you can use them to store toothpicks, or restaurant salt and ketchup packets. You can also use them on your desk at home to store paper clips, staples, pens, what have you. If you have a toolbox that looks more like a junk box, try using these bottles to store nails, screws, and the other miscellaneous paraphernalia you’ve hoarded over the years.
- Try using one or two in your car to store loose change — no more looking for a quarter for the meter or a dime at the toll booth!
- Prescription bottles also make for a great travel-size container. Use it to store an emergency sewing kit (needles, thread, etc.) or an emergency first-aid kit (Band-Aids, Q-tips, alcohol swabs) that you can stow in your purse
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Comments
I cleaned out my bathroom cabinet, carefully peeled off the labels of old prescription bottles, put them in a paper bag, and then went to the internet to see if there was somewhere I could donate them. I end up here and find an article that starts out with snarky comments, directed AT the reader, accusing them of being dishonest when they receive change at a retail store and of being unkind to their family! What the heck?!
I will never visit this website again!
I realize you were trying to make a point with the first paragraph of your answer, but you sound a little bit snotty and self righteous. You could have made your point in a much more neutral way without sounding like such a jerk.
Agreed!
I came to this site to figure out how to improve the environment and reduce unnecessary waste and the first paragraph I read is basically ridiculing me for it. Ok? I never have been a tree hugger and this is primarily why. I am convinced a lot of environmentalists really are angry at the world and they want to feel self-righteous about something. So they impose strict views on how people should live. I would like to thank the author. You have clearly proven my point about most.... More
HI, folks. We accept empty, clean prescription plastic bottles and we send them to Africa to be used at hospitals and pharmacies. If you'd like to, you can mail as many as you have to:
American Foundation for Children with AIDS
6221 Blue GRass Avenue
Harrisburg, PA 17112
Check us out at www.AFCAids.org
Thank you!
tanya
Chanie, sorry you have been so desensitized by consumer culture that you fail to recognize that lots of people have issues with throwing away perfectly good stuff. Seems really out of line with the mission of this website.
anyway, I have called about 10 vets in my area with no luck. no one wants to reuse them. glad to hear of AFCAids. thanks!
Do I need to remove the labels?
Please don't give up! There are tons of people who care about the environment and appreciate the little things that each of us can/are willing to do. Take a look at Beth Terry's site at: http://myplasticfreelife.com or Corinne and Nils at: http://52weeksofimpact.org/. They're about encouragement to do what each of us can.... More
I wonder why prescription bottles have to be made of a plastic that's not commonly recyclable. Does anyone know?
