Spring clean your medicine cabinet

BY CHIEF PHARMACIST, BEC ROGERS

Give your medicine cabinet a spring clean

Spring has sprung, the blossoms are blooming and it’s the perfect time to clean out all the clutter you’ve collected over winter. However, one of the most important places to clean often goes unnoticed in Australia – your medicine cabinet.

Over 60% of Australian households have unwanted or expired medicines in their homes. Some medications undergo chemical changes after their use-by date, which can result in them becoming less effective or causing unwanted side effects.

Expired medications may become dangerous and therefore must be routinely checked and safely disposed of. For example, insulin and angina tablets need to be discarded 28 days and 3 months respectively after being opened.

All forms of medication, including patches, creams, lotions, ointments, liquids, injections and tablets will have an expiry date past which time they should no longer be used. Unwanted and expired medications should be returned to pharmacies for safe disposal. At National Pharmacies we welcome our customers to return unwanted and expired medications to any of our pharmacies at any time throughout the year.

While returning your unwanted medication, why not use this time to recycle your medication blister packs at the same time? National Pharmacies is South Australia’s first pharmacy chain to collect and recycle empty medicine blister packs through all of our 44 stores across SA and interstate.

To date, we have diverted over 3,447 kilograms of blister packs from landfill, which has been recycled into building material. Medicine blister packs can be deposited at any, and all, National Pharmacies stores.

If you have any questions regarding returning of unwanted or expired medicines or our medication blister pack recycling program, speak with one of our friendly team members in-store.