Health: what should we do when our medicines have expired?

Expired medicines represent more than 13,000 tonnes per year in France. So, what should we do with it? Everyone has their own way of acting. Some throw them away, while others return them to the pharmacy. Bringing your medications back to the pharmacy is indeed what you should do. Beyond the deadline, the active ingredients degrade and can become ineffective or even toxic, particularly anticoagulants.

A risk of soil pollution

Likewise, caution should be exercised with powdered antibiotics mixed with water. They should not be consumed more than five days after preparation, because then they become dangerous. In total in France, of the 13,400 tonnes of medicines which are unused or expired each year, 70% are cremated. They are burned with household waste in ovens at 1,000°C, in accordance with legislation. In any case, you should not throw them directly into your trash, because 25% household waste is still buried in France, with a significant risk of soil pollution by medicines.