Washington’s Safe Medication Return lets people dispose of household prescription and over-the-counter medications (including medications for household pets).

Safe Medication Return is for household medication. You may not use it to dispose of business-generated pharmaceutical waste. If you are a business, please visit the Department of Ecology Pharmaceutical Waste website for more information.

Storing medication securely and making sure unused and unwanted medication is disposed of safely helps reduce poisonings, overdoses, and suicide attempts. Safely disposing of medication also keeps it out of our environment which helps protect our water and soil.

1. Take it to a drop-off site and deposit it in a kiosk

2. Return it using free, prepaid, preaddressed mail-back supplies. There are three types of mailers.

You can order mail-back supplies online or toll-free at 844-633-7765 (TTY 711). You may submit as many requests for mailers as you want and can choose up to three of the same type of mailer per request. For online and phone orders, you must provide your first and last name and the address you want the supplies shipped to.

You can also pick up mail-back supplies at mail-back distribution locations. You do not need to provide identification, or complete paperwork when picking up these supplies.

3. Take-back events may also be held in some areas of the state. You can bring your unused or unwanted medication to these events. As with kiosk drop-offs, you do not have to provide ID or fill out paperwork to dispose of medication at these events.

If you put your medications in a sealed bag, please recycle the original containers, if possible. (Check with your local solid waste program.)

Please remove any personal or identifying information from packaging and labels. This helps us protect your personal information.

Kiosks, mailers, and take-back events cannot accept:

Laws, funding, and oversight - Includes information about manufacturer and wholesaler requirements.

Program operations - Includes information on becoming an authorized collector (hosting a kiosk), providing mail-back supplies, hosting take-back events, and becoming a new program operator.

Drug User Health (Department of Health)

Healthy Home (Department of Health)

Suicide Prevention (Department of Health)

Washington Tracking Network (data) (Department of Health)

Disposal locations and supplies (MED-Project)

Washington Poison Center (800-222-1122)

Contact the Department of Health by email or call 360-236-4698 if you have any questions, concerns, or complaints about oversight, enforcement, and program compliance.

Contact MED-Project, the state-approved program operator at 844-633-7765 (TTY 711) with questions, concerns, or complaints about kiosks, mailers, and take-back events.

For people with disabilities, Web documents in other formats are available on request. To submit a request, please contact us at civil.rights@doh.wa.gov.

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