Does anyone know what to do with empty plastic prescription bottles OTHER THAN putting nails and screws in?
Answer:
For the most part, these probably should not be recycled.
The drugs that were in them can provide a residue that CAN withstand recycling.
You *can* demand that your pharmacists use the same bottle for refills of the same drug.
This is what I do.
And don't flush your drugs down the toilet...it's bad enough that what's left in your body ends up there...
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/a...
As a biologist, I work with plastics that *absolutely must not* end up in the recycling stream on a regular basis-and I try to buy 100% recycled when I can.
Actually, googling, it seems that even if you SHOULD recycle them (and you probably shouldn't) most can't be-
http://www.ecocycle.org/faq/containers.c...
Edit: As for the person with the "hazardous waste" centers local to them most of these places are for SOLVENT disposal (paints, strippers, pesticides) and a lot of drugs (especially hormone based drugs) cannot be destroyed by this process.Ideally, Biohazard is the best place to deal with them, and that means ultra high heat incineration.
Some places will do "drug disposal days" and you can add those to that pile, but they will get incinerated, not recycled. Not all drugs are as bad as others, but things like propecia can cause unbelievably bad things if they end up in the water, via the cleaning process of plastics recycling or improper disposal.
Find a craft group that does beading in your area. They always need them.
Any Native American dance groups will need them.
Try a local pharmacy instead of the chains-better chance they'll not be on a contract to buy them.
Put them on Craigslist-someone will have the perfect thing to do with them and be thrilled to get hundreds of them.
Recycle them just as with any other plastic.
they have recycling centres there may not be one in every city so you'll have to check a map or something. but they'll take stuff that had toxic stuff in it E.g: spray cans, batteries etc
Take them to animal shelters...I donate them all the time to animal shelters...they are always asking for them for the cats.they are used for cat toys because cats love playing with them...if you do this you will be helping the environment and needy animals at the same time...a win win situation!
I reuse mine to put vitamins in for travelling - granted I don't have 100. Ask your pharmacist if they will reuse your bottles for your same perscriptions. They might enjoy not having to buy so many over time.
Alternatively crafting people might want them for beads and brads and all that stuff. Good luck!
You can store matches in them when you are camping. They will stay dry and not get broken if they tumble around in your gear. You can also relabel them to suit your needs and keep tylenol, advil, etc in your car or in first aid kits
I work for a veterinary clinic and we are always happy to recycle pill bottles. We clean them and remove the labels and the dogs and cats don't know that it is a recycled bottle. We do tell the clients that we use recycled bottles. You can also ask your pharmacist as he may be able to send them for recycling.
Many teachers, especially special education teachers of all grade levels and disciplines, use them in their classrooms. They can be used for anything from storing paper clips and pushpins to holding "work jobs" (the bigger bottles, of course) and art supplies such as glitter and confetti. If you truly don't want to throw them out, put them in a big zip loc bag, label it for the special ed dept., and drop it off at your local public school...if you have enough, divide them into 3 bags, and deliver one to each, elementary, middle, and high. They also come in handy in pre schools for the same types of things.
Use them to store a key outside for emergency back up. Can be used in many locations!!
You can put travel sized portions of lotion, shampoo, bath gel or shaving lotion in them.
Can be used for beads or if you have broken necklace.Could use them for few quarters for an emergency payphone,
use them to put other small things in, tell your pharmisist to use THAT bottle to refill presribtions. put seeds in them, sometimes u can recycle them look to see if they have a 1 or 2 on the bottom
art schools/art classrooms. Storing things like straight pins, extra paint, etc.
Wow, there are a lot of great suggestions I never thought of.
I use mine for my bead work and other crafty projects as well as for keeping little things that I can't always seem to find in my purse, like the nail clippers. You can always keep quarters in one in your car for parking meters.
I can't think up any other ideas that haven't already been mentioned. Great question by the way!
First i would soak them in some soapy water, To get the residue from the pills out.
I use them for paints. crafting etc. If there is only a little bit of a color left, and i can put the lid on it to keep it from spilling., with a dot of the color on top I have used them for Needles for sewing. Beads, gems, squiggly eyeballs,etc for crafts. Jelwery when im traveling.
You can ask your pharmasic to reuse them for the same drug, You can wash them out and use them for lose change. even quaters fit in most. If you are arts you can put small things in them like buttons, or plastic eyes (for suffed animals.). really alot of things can fit into them.
Those are some great answers I never thought of.
I use mine to hold coins, such as state quarters.
One cool thing that I learned from a friend is to put a couple plastic bags in them and through them in your back pack. When your hiking, you can pull one out and pick up litter along the hiking trails.
Kill two birds with one stone; use extra plastic bags laying around the house (unless you're like me and don't have any because you use reusable bags), and use those medicine bottles.
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