Expired Medicines - What to Do with Them?

We advise what to do and how to deal with expired medicines in doctors' offices, clinics, hospitals or pharmacies.

Expired medicines, just like destroyed ones, are waste that belong to the group of medical waste.

Therefore, their handling is also specified by law. Starting from the method of waste collection, appropriate packaging, to specialist transport, up to the moment of neutralization in a medical waste incinerator.

Medicines should be collected in a selective manner, which means separating cytostatic and cytotoxic medicines from the rest.

Cytostatic and cytotoxic medicines are hazardous waste and are marked with waste code 18 01 08*, while all other medicines are coded 18 01 09.

Waste with code 18 01 08* in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Health of October 5, 2017. regarding the detailed method of handling medical waste, we collect it at the place of its creation in single-use containers or bags made of polyethylene foil, yellow, durable, resistant to moisture and chemicals, with the possibility of single closure.

Other medicines with code 18 01 09, i.e. other than those listed in 18 01 08, we collect it at the place of its creation in single-use containers or bags made of polyethylene foil, or in reusable containers, in a colour other than red and yellow, durable, resistant to moisture and chemicals.

Expired medicines should be immediately transferred for disposal.