About two-thirds of adults in this country use at least one prescription medication, and as you might imagine prescription drug use rises as we get older. But whether it’s the occasional bottle of painkillers handed to you after a tooth extraction or a regular dose to manage a chronic disease, all those prescriptions lead to one thing: A lot of old pill bottles cluttering up our homes.
If you’re like most people, you probably toss those old bottles into the trash—but that’s a mistake. For one thing, there’s some sensitive personal information printed on the labels, so you should at minimum remove those before you toss the bottle. And it’s estimated that 90% of the roughly 200 billion plastic pill bottles manufactured every year wind up in landfills, contributing to the massive plastic pollution problem we have in the world. Here’s what you should do instead of throwing those old pill bottles into the trash.
Toss them in the recycling
As with all plastics, if you can recycle it, that’s a much better choice than just tossing it into the trash. But you’ll need to check if you can recycle your old pill bottles before you dump them in with your other plastics.
Most pill bottles are made out of polypropylene, which is designated as Plastic #5 in recycling terms. While polypropylene can be recycled effectively, it’s not universally accepted by recycling programs because it can be more challenging to recycle. Check to see if your local recycling program accepts Plastic #5 before you dump your old pill bottles into the plastics bin on garbage night. If your local recycling program accepts polypropylene, remove the labels before you drag your bottles to the curb.
Clever ways to reuse them
Instead of throwing your old pill bottles away or recycling them, consider repurposing them instead:
Storage. Polypropylene is a sturdy material, and those bottles are actually ideal for storing small, easily lost things like pills, seeds, screws, nuts and bolts, or buttons. You can attach the cap to the bottom of a shelf and screw the bottle into place, creating a perfect way to have loose bits at your fingertips, or make a “catcher” out of an old pill bottle to make it easy to corral loose screws as you work.
Travel. Old pill bottles are also perfectly sized for travel-related storage for earbuds, shampoos, Q-tips, or anything else you bring with you when you head for the airport.
Organize. Old pill bottles can also clean up and organize your junk drawer, collecting all the stuff you toss in there—batteries, paperclips, unidentified keys, etc. Instead of a drawer of growing chaos, you’ll have clearly labeled organization.
Crafts. If you’re a crafty sort, there are a ton of fun projects that can turn your old pill bottles into useful items—a hide-a-key, musical instrument, decorations, rainbow crayons, or adorable little vases.
Donate them—yes, really
If you can’t recycle your pill bottles and you’re not the crafty type, you have one terrific option left: Donate them. A surprising number of organizations are always looking for donated pill bottles:
Animal shelters are almost always happy to take donated pill bottles, because they use a lot of them.
Humanitarian Aid organizations need pill bottles, too. Matthew 25 Ministries will accept donations of clean, label-removed pill bottles, for example.
Homeless shelters sometimes accept donations of pill bottles, though you’ll probably have to contact them directly to see if they have a need for them.
By recycling, repurposing, or donating your old pill bottles, you’ll not only avoid adding to the plastic pollution in the world, you’ll be doing something good—while making your home neater and cleaner in the process. Just be mindful of your privacy and get rid of those labels before you do anything.
