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What Drugs Can Be Flushed into a Septic Tank - Septic Tank Maintenance and Protection Advice
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• How to dispose of un-wanted drugs and medical supplies - not into the toilet, not into the septic tank

Are there some drugs that are safe to dispose-of by flushing them down the toilet or pouring them down a sink and into a private septic system?

What unwanted or old drugs may damage the septic tank or leach fields? This document explains how to extend the life of the septic system by being careful about what goes into it.

Citation of this article by reference to this website and brief quotation for the sole purpose of review are permitted. Use of this information at other websites, in books or pamphlets for sale is reserved to the author. Technical review, content suggestions, critique are welcomed and are listed at "References."

This document is a chapter of Inspecting, Testing, & Maintaining Residential Septic Systems an online book on septic systems.

© Copyright 2009 Daniel Friedman, All Rights Reserved. Information Accuracy & Bias Pledge is at below-left. Use links at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

Pouring Drugs into the Toilet, Sink, or Septic System?

Drugs, prescription or prescription medicines, should never be flushed down a toilet unless your pharmacist or the drug manufacturer tells you specifically that the particular drug is absolutely harmless to the environment.

While this is not a new topic, as recently as April 2007 the New York Times reported the growing detection of pharmaceuticals such as birth control pills, anti-depressants, painkillers, shampoos, and other compounds in rivers, lakes, streams, and ground water, including possibly drinking water.

The Times article described "pharmaceutical and personal care products" or "P.P.C.P.'s which are being flushed down drains and which pass through sewage treatment systems and private residential septic systems into the aquifer.

Beyond a possible hazard of inadvertent consumption of antibiotics (and growing development of bacteria resistant to our antibiotics), it is possible that very low levels of other compounds will have a drastic affect on some animals, possibly going un-detected until that population declines beyond its ability to recover.

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WHAT CAN GO INTO TOILETS & DRAINS?
NEVER FLUSH INTO SEPTICS
BETTER NOT TO FLUSH
HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS
OTHER CHEMICALS
CHLORINE IN DRINKING WATER
CHLORINE IN SEPTIC WASTEWATER
DISHWASHERS vs SEPTICS
DRUGS INTO the SEPTIC TANK?
GARBAGE GRINDERS vs SEPTICS
REVERSE OSMOSIS CONCENTRATE DISPOSAL
TOILET TISSUE?
TOILET TISSUE TEST
WASHING MACHINES
WATER SOFTENERS
* NO FLUSH SUMMARY LIST

• New York Times Science Section, F1 and F8, 3 April 2007
• Our Stolen Future, Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanoski, and John Peterson Myers, published by Penguin Publishing, 1997.
• HOUSEHOLD CHEMICALS into the septic tank?
• OTHER CHEMICALS to keep out of the septic system

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• The Septic System Information Website home page for this topic


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