Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation Survey On Household medicines      

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Unwanted Household Medicines

A Survey of King County Residents

Highlights 

Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation (WCRC) commissioned a survey of King County (Washington) residents to gain a greater understanding of current disposal practices for unused or expired medicines.  The survey also asked residents about their willingness to properly dispose of unwanted medicines and the most convenient disposal options.  Finally, the survey asked residents whether they thought manufacturers of medicines should be responsible for funding a safe and convenient disposal option.   

The following are highlights from the survey: 

  • Slightly more than half (52%) of the respondents said that their household typically disposes of unwanted medicines in the garbage while 20% flush them down the toilet or sink.

  • More than a third (39%) of the respondents said that they have 10 or more medicine containers in their household and 60% said they have less than 10 medicine containers.  Only 1% said that they have no medicine containers in their household. 

  • Only a third (33%) of respondents said that they are currently using or planning to use all of the medicines in their household in the next six months.  The majority (57%) are using or planning to use some portion of their medicines and 10% plan to use none.

  • Three quarters (74%) of respondents reported that they are willing to properly dispose of their unwanted medicines if a convenient location is offered.

  • A considerable majority (84%) indicated that a local pharmacy would be the most convenient place to dispose of their unwanted medicines.  Only a small portion (5%) thought a special community collection event or a municipal hazardous waste site (2%) would be the most convenient. 

  • Four in five (80%) respondents said they’d likely return their unwanted medicines to a secure drop box set up at their pharmacy.

  • More than half of respondents (53%) agree that manufacturers of medicines should be responsible for funding a safe and convenient disposal solution.

The survey was designed by Cunningham Environmental Consulting in consultation with WCRC and Northwest Research Group.  It was included in a January 2006 edition of SoundStats™, a regularly scheduled omnibus survey fielded by Northwest Research Group.  The sample included 400 households in King County.   The overall margin of sampling error for the survey is plus or minus 5%. 

Full survey results are available online at: http://wastenotwashington.org/Pharmsurvey.pdf.

 


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