Find a pharmacy to safely dispose of unwanted, expired, or unused medicines in Australia.
Collect any expired, unused, or unwanted medicines from around your home. Check bathroom cabinets, kitchen drawers, and bedside tables. Include tablets, capsules, liquids, creams, inhalers, and patches.
All Australian pharmacies accept unwanted medicines for safe disposal — free of charge. You do not need a receipt, prescription, or proof of purchase. Just hand them to the pharmacist.
Medicines are collected in special bins through the Return Unwanted Medicines (RUM) Project and sent for high-temperature incineration. This prevents environmental contamination and keeps medicines out of landfill and waterways.
Any pharmacy will accept your medicines, but these directories can help you find one nearby.
Needles, syringes, lancets, and other sharps must not be placed in regular bins or medicine return bins. They must go in an approved yellow sharps container.
You can buy sharps containers from any pharmacy. When full, return the sealed container to your pharmacy, local council, or community sharps disposal point. Some pharmacies exchange full containers for empty ones at no cost.
Contact your local council for sharps disposal locations in your area.
❌ Don't flush medicines down the toilet — they contaminate waterways and can affect aquatic life.
❌ Don't put medicines in the rubbish bin — they can be found by children or animals, and chemicals leach into landfill.
❌ Don't give medicines to other people — medicines prescribed for one person can be dangerous for another.
❌ Don't keep expired medicines "just in case" — they may lose effectiveness or become harmful after expiry.
The Return Unwanted Medicines (RUM) Project is a free, national program funded by the Australian Government. It has been operating since 1998 and is administered by the National Return and Disposal of Unwanted Medicines Limited.
The program provides special collection bins in pharmacies across Australia. When full, the bins are collected and the medicines are safely destroyed by high-temperature incineration at licensed facilities.
The RUM Project prevents an estimated 700+ tonnes of medicines from entering Australian landfill each year.
For more information: returnmed.com.au