What to do with prescription medical bottles?
By Marie Coyle
@MarieCoyle (57231)
April 17, 2026 1:59pm CST
OK, I admit it...I am and always have been a recycler, a tree-hugger, whatever label you want to slap on me. I know that there are endless tons of stuff tossed into our landfills (and obviously many end up in our oceans) and we need to make a better effort to repurpose, and if something is able, to be recycled. I also know many people just don't care one way or another.
The amount of prescription medical bottles my son generates is crazy. I have a few, but not like he does. I wish there was a way that pharmacies could use them over and over again (when I was a little girl, some pharmacies would do that!) but they don't. I am learning new ways to use them. Some of my teacher friends have used them to put tiny craft things in, like colored sequins, stickers, etc. One uses them to put paint in for the kid's art projects. One friend took some once for her Girl Scout troup to make things out of. Another lady makes cat toys from them, and the cats love batting them around. People come up with really inventive ideas!
I looked up just how much trash these bottles make for only the US per year. It's absolutely nuts! And evidently they do not stand up to most recycling methods, so it truly is better to recycle them.
Via google and Medical Waste Pros.
The US uses between 4 and 6 billion plastic prescription pill bottles annually. These billions of single-use bottles are often discarded in landfills, contributing roughly 78,000 tons of plastic waste each year, as they are rarely accepted in standard curbside recycling due to their small size and #5 plastic classification.
+4
Annual Usage: Estimates range from 4 billion to over 6 billion prescription bottles filled per year.
Waste Quantity: Approximately 78,000 tons of bulk and consumer prescription bottles/caps are discarded annually.
Recycling Status: While often made from #5 plastic, these bottles are hard to recycle through standard curbside programs, leading to high landfill rates.
I honestly think we could do better.
14 people like this
14 responses
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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6h
I am all for repurposing them if at all possible. Oh, and I gave one bag of them away on my local BuyNothing group. An older fellow wanted them to put small nails, metal washers,etc in. I thought that was a great idea.
1 person likes this
@rebelann (116803)
• El Paso, Texas
7h
I'm so glad you created this post, thank you.
I have to thank heavens I don't need meds but I had no idea it was that bad for those pill bottles. Would they be safe to use as seed starters? I think that way cuz I have a yard where I'm trying to plant seedlings but I want to get the seeds started indoors.
I'm a treehugger too, I do what I can to try to prevent the destruction of trees mostly by not buying or using those one time use mop refills, instead I use old tshirts or towels that are no longer useful in the capacity they once were intended. I also never use paper towels. Its sad that our 'civilization' has become so seriously wasteful.
My other beef is with people who throw food into the garbage, I throw food scraps into the yard for the birds and insects to enjoy ..... but not if it means Roscoe might eat it, I will find different ways to deal with scraps if that's the case.
People living in aprtments could bring their food scraps including eggshells to areas where it's wild so the insects and birds can have a food source, you'd be surprised just how good that is for Mother Nature.
2 people like this
@Fleura (34549)
• United Kingdom
6h
Here the local authorities have started to collect food waste separately. It's taken to a fermenting plant where it's used to generate biogas by the process of anaerobic digestion. Then the gas is used to produce electricity and the residue is used as fertilizer.
Garden waste is also composted and spread on farmland.
The plastic waste problem is a huge issue though.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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5h
@Fleura
Where I used to live before I moved to this area, I had a compost pile. It worked out great and the compost was beneficial to garden and flowering plants. I can’t have one here but try to use everything I can use. And yes,plastic is everywhere. And there’s way too much of it!
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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6h
I do everything I can to reduce, reuse, repurpose...and NOT waste stuff. Not food, not anything. And yes, I have used them to sprout seeds, and know that other people have, too. I made my own Swiffer pads out of some old washcloths and towels, they work just fine. Eggshells get crushed and to to my little garden or to my oldest daughter's garden. Coffee grounds go in there, too. If I do cook anything that has bones, and after I boil them to make bone broth, I take them out to a local field that I have permission to do--just the bones. Wildlife eat them...and it's nice to know that none of them were wasted. We all need to be doing as you do, waste nothing and try to reuse. Great job!
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (206136)
• United States
7h
There are ways to reuse them if you are in ventive. I always feel bad if I have to throw one out.
2 people like this
@GardenGerty (168561)
• United States
43m
@MarieCoyle DONATIONS VIA MAIL
11060 Kenwood Road
Blue Ash, OH 45242
This is a group called Matthew 25 ministries and if you search that you can learn more. Different missions minded congregations collect and mail clean bottles to this organization. There is a church near us that does.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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5h
I am on my own little personal crusade to repurpose plastic things if at all possible. The amounts of toxic plastic we are filling the earth with is shameful to me.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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12m
@GardenGerty
Thank you, Heather. I will look them up.
Our church used to send them to Haiti for the doctors to distribute meds. They did that for years, but they stopped.
@wolfgirl569 (132996)
• Marion, Ohio
3h
@MarieCoyle I have used them for cat toys before but that is it. You might be able to paint them for a wreath.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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2h
@wolfgirl569
I saw pictures of all sorts of things to make with them. Some people have great ideas!
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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4h
It really is a lot. Hey, you are creative, I can see you making something out of these things, too!
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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5h
Tie a string in one and make a cat toy. Use another one for your guitar picks. There’s two taken care of. Put your thinking cap on, Horsie!
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (236793)
• Walnut Creek, California
54m
@MarieCoyle I will consult with Kitty.
1 person likes this
@LooeyVille (66)
• United States
7h
I used to put Rx bottles in my recycling bin but they wouldn't accept them.
2 people like this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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6h
Maybe you can find someone who would like to repurpose them?
Here is one of the things that one of the local Girl Scout troups made out of pill bottles--to hang on the tree, and use as a place to gift money. I think they were so cute! They made little Santa ones, too, and ones with little evergreen trees. I am going to make some this year, I think
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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6h
@LooeyVille
Making something useful and even cute, the leader of the group said the girls loved the project.
1 person likes this
@GardenGerty (168561)
• United States
48m
There are missions groups that collect them and use them overseas. The large ones can be made into kits for Operation Christmas Child--fill them with fishing supplies or sewing supplies. Maybe there is a church near you that has a recycle/reuse program.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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10m
I am going to check again. I know I checked last year and none were doing it, but anything is possible. Thanks, Heather.
@celticeagle (187953)
• Boise, Idaho
6h
That's a lot. I have seen where many people are using these bottles for storing all manner of things from buttons to screws. I hope this continues. Pharmacies could start taking the bottles back.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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4h
They could, but they won't. I did some research on it once...the cost of the cleaning and sanitizing the bottles is higher than the cost of the actual bottles. Makes no sense but that's what they say. It bothers me that we even get our meds in plastic bottles. How much sense does it make, to put meds to get you well in a bottle made of toxic plastics? How screwed up is that?
@Juliaacv (55577)
• Canada
3h
dislike the many bottles that I discard-all of which have my name on a label.
That bothers me also.
I just did a really quick search and there are sites that have other uses for these little pill bottles.
But honestly, I just wish that they would use recyclable plastic, which they are not currently doing.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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2h
If something I toss has my name or son's name on it, I remove the label. If that's not possible because they put it on with concrete (seems like it is!) I mark through the name and the number of the prescription with a black marker before I toss it. But our labels peel right off the bottles, and then I save the bottles. It would be nice if they bottles were always recycled, from what I have read they break down the wrong way somehow and it doesn't work well to recycle them. Weird.
@RasmaSandra (96459)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
5h
Don't have any prescription medicine bottles,
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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5h
Oh,it’s crazy I know. Son is in and out of the hospital so much. Now they even have disposable heated blankets. It’s just insane!!
@DianneN (253754)
• United States
5h
I only use a couple of prescription bottles every 90 days, but admit I used to throw them out. However, since I became a gardener, I have been using them to start seeds, and also use them for little beauty concoctions. I also think that old prescription bottles filled with old prescription medicines are even worse than throwing out those containers.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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4h
I have some filled with seeds from last year's garden. It's supposed to dive down and possibly freeze again this weekend. We normally do not plant much here before Mother's Day, as we've been surprised many times by late frosts/freezes.
If we have any meds that we no longer take, I take them to the police station when they have a med pick-up day. I don't like to have old medications around.
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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2h
That might be better in a lot of instances. Plus some of those pill bottles are very hard to get opened!
@Deepizzaguy (120266)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
3h
Good point that you have that prescription medical bottles need to be recycled better since they are useful for others.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (57231)
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2h
Thanks, George. We all need to help take care of our earth and not fill it up with plastic.
1 person likes this
