For many years, the widely accepted approach for disposing of pharmaceuticals was to "just flush ‘em." That advice changed with studies like the 1999 and 2000 U.S. Geological Surveys, which identified traces of pharmaceuticals in 80% of the streams and rivers sampled. Although recent legislation such as the EPA’s proposed rule to ban healthcare facilities from flushing pharmaceutical waste down the toilet or drain is a step in the right direction, people are still flushing unused pharmaceuticals purposefully or inadvertently through waste.

Although wastewater is treated before being released into the environment, most treatment plants and septic systems are neither equipped nor required to filter out pharmaceuticals. “While some efforts have been made to improve filtering technology, the fact remains that our treatment plants are currently not designed to remove pharmaceuticals," Brian Smith, Associate Executive Director of Citizens Campaign for the Environment, tells Hopes&Fears.

Nowadays, the most popular method of disposing pharmaceuticals, according to a 2015 survey by Western University of Health Sciences, is to put them in the trash. Even the EPA, DEA, and FDA suggest trash disposal, if no safe drop-off is available. Their advice is to mix unused pharmaceuticals with an unpalatable substance (e.g. cat litter), seal them in a plastic container, and throw them away. This new trend has resulted in an estimated 1,040 tons of active pharmaceuticals entering U.S. landfills each year.

For disposing of controlled substances like opioids, the FDA still recommends flushing to prevent them from landing in the wrong hands. As a result, the same drugs the FDA does not want getting into the wrong hands are now ending up, in small traces, in our drinking water. If you had a glass of tap water today, chances are you had it with a twist of Oxycodone and any number of other commonly found pharmaceutical compounds in America’s public water systems.

Although landfilling may prevent unused medications from getting into the wrong hands, the method is far from environmentally sound. “Flushing and landfilling are never the right disposal solutions for unused pharmaceutical drugs,” says Smith, “pharmaceutical drugs can be found in landfill leachate [water that comes in contact with trash], and ultimately pose a threat to water quality.”