Pill bottles: those translucent orange soldiers that pile up all around us… in our drawers, cabinets, shelves… sometimes I wonder, if I had saved every empty pill bottle since I got sick could I build a small house by now?
One thing I have always hated the most about being sick, is how you often need more help than you can give back. I’d see those specials on TV and think: I want to build a Habitat for Humanity house or dig wells in Africa with Oprah! (this might be an insomnia induced thought, but the general sentiment still stands).
Okay, so I can’t dig a hole in the blazing African sun. There are still a lot of ways to help others. Like this, this is a project with an idea so simple, it’s brilliant. I’ve tried this myself so I can vouch for how easy it is to do and how good it feels to pass on something that is trash to you, but will be a treasure to others…
Imagine you’ve walked miles to a remote village hospital to receive any form of medical care you can find. You are given the medication you desperately needed and now you have to start the journey back home (often many miles). You don’t shake the pill bottle maraca as you walk because there is no pill bottle, (there was barely medicine). The pills bought in impoverished areas are often bought in huge quantities, in large jars, and doled out (if you’re lucky) wrapped in a tiny scrap of newspaper.
It doesn’t sound like a big deal at first. But the more I thought about it the more I realized: beyond the thought of just getting the medication home, what keeps the meds from swelling up from moisture by day 5? What keeps kids from getting into them? Or their getting lost? Those orange bottles that seem to accumulate so easily for us, can actually do more than you think for others…
How to Help:
Step 1:
When you finish your meds, save the bottle! This includes bottles you might receive over the counter like for Advil, Motrin, vitamin bottles, supplements – as long as the bottles aren’t too (Large bottles just cost too much to ship).
Step 2:
Follow the instructions for preparing the bottles
Step 3:
Throw the bottles in a box or manila envelope, when you have enough of them, mail it off!
The bottles are not wasted in anyway. Once the meds are finished, the families often use the bottles in 100 other ways (just think of how helpful it could be to have a container with a lid that seals). And if the bottle you send isn’t able to be used, it will be recycled.
The New Organization is called:
Matthew 25: Ministries
11060 Kenwood Road
Cincinnati, OH 45242
Note: I have nothing to do with this organization. They state they are an international humanitarian aid and disaster relief organization helping the poorest of the poor, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally regardless of race, creed or political persuasion across the US and worldwide. They were cited on many sites throughout my research.
Help Animals! You can also try contacting your local animal shelter, vet or animal organization, a lot of them are happy to receive donated pill bottles!
Ginger Ail 
Are dark blue bottles I receive from vet for my dog also useable?
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Yes you can!!
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What a great way to recycle and do some good! Thanks for sharing!
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Can you send a box of them or just padded envelope’s?
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Yes you can!!
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I would try sending them in a USPS Priority box, which would protect the bottles far better than an envelope. Lining the box with recycled bubble wrap would be a good idea.
As for re-using the bottles here at home, I keep coins, paper clips, hair pins, corsage pins, buttons, snaps, needles, sewing pins, spools of thread, and other small items in mine. Most are just the right size for salad dressing in a lunch box, and the see-through material makes labeling unnecessary.
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Reblogged this on The ABCs and commented:
While this isn’t fitness or craft-based, this is a great idea to balance your life by eliminating clutter and doing some good. I plan to start an envelope of my own bottles and send off once it fills up!
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What about bottles with labels like for vitamins and supplements?
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So you didn’t read the article or you have an issue comprehending?
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(No need to be rude Rob. I skimmed the article quickly and missed that line too.)
Eva CA, yes, over the counter bottles are fine, just not super large ones.
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This is so weird. I’m an artist and keep things that I may someday need. These i keep for small leftover paints. Not a hoarder by the way. Just two days ago I thought, wouldn’t it be a good idea if I could bring these medicine bottles back to the drug store for recycling. And wala! There you are. Great idea and have your address.
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Wala? Really? How about voila?
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Really? Who cares
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Sorry, but there’s no such term as “wa la.” The word to use to express delight in your discovery is French. It’s correctly pronounced “vwa LAH” and spelled “voilà.” Sorry this isn’t a comment about the bottles per se, which is a great idea and thanks. I just hate when people spread bad grammar, and this one in particular seems to be getting around to the point where people really don’t understand the word they’re using. I’m not trying to make anyone feel bad but if being corrected bothers you, just go have fun correcting others who misuse this lovely French word!
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I believe you meant “voila!” when you wrote “wala.” “Voila!” is the French word for “Behold” or “See.” It is pronounced “vwa-la’.”
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Are they going to be shipped to a sanitization facility? There is residue in the bottles from old meds and sometimes some drug bottles/amber vials cannot be reused they have to be sent to a hazardous waste facility to be destroyed. Warfarin/coumadin for example..
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Here’s another site address….and it says to boil the bottles to get the labels off, which I would imagine would also get medicine residue out too.
http://malawiproject.org/medicine-bottles-for-malawi/
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Warfarin and Coumadin don’t get completely sanitized out of the bottle by just boiling the bottles. Also, the length of time someone would boil them in order to get the label off, really isn’t enough time to really sanitize many things. Plus, many labels just get peeled off. Boiling isn’t a requirement, just a suggestion for tough labels. I think the concept here is good, but I’d like to know how they all get sanatized before being reused before I send any. We wouldn’t be helping someone by giving them an antibiotic in a coumadin laced bottle… not to mention a hundred other ways they can be contaminated.
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True, but really, how much warfarin is really still available in the bottle after normal sanitizing, and how available is that to contaminate the next medications? I would think it pretty negligible and likely not enough to influence someone’s PT/INR results, certainly not enough to cause noticeable changes in clotting time. Correct me if I am incorrect, I would love to see the source data. Compare this to the situation of not having a bottle to protect meds form other types of contamination (ink from wrapping in newsprint, dirt from holding in one’s hands or pockets…moisture and heat which will likely cause the medication to deteriorate much more quickly…). Yes, If donors are reading this, refrain from sending warfarin (Coumadin), but even so, it still it seems a safer alternative than no bottles at all. As a nurse, I will suggest this to my fellow nurses, we are often involved in helping other health care providers serve patients by helping provide needed resources (medical supplies, textbooks, etc).
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People who say that the bottles won’t be recycled need to do a little research on how some less privileged countries dispose of household waste. Take Peru for instance. Garbage collected is taken to the shoreline and pushed into the ocean everyday. Large equipment, such as used at landfills, shove tons of garbage into the Pacific ocean. Now, people need something as small as medicine bottles-desperately need bottles to safeguard precious medications and someone is rattling on about recycling? All of the recycling efforts done, say, here in the US, countries like above described just undo. Our efforts amount to spitting into the wind. But, I’m going to continue recycling anyway.
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I’d refrain from sending bottles that once had antibiotics (especially -cillin’s & Sulfa’s) I once almost lost a manager that came back to help when she was just holding an empty amoxicillin bottle. Not a fun way to find out you’re allergic!
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I put my empty bottles in the dishwasher.
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We had a connection years ago with a minister from Africa who shipped them back to his native country, Liberia, in shipping containers along with other requested items. The bottles were sterilized by volunteers in that country for reuse, much safer than the alternative. Otherwise, patients had to “package” their prescription in a cloth or leaf, not very sanitary method.
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I ? Maybe a duplicate comment?
Were any of the big chains (were they to choose not to contribute gifts- in- kind to this ministry themselves, would any US pharmacy law prevent them from promoting it to their customers? (Or is this even a silly question?)
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When I was in Malawi, I became really sick. The doctor prescribed me 17 green pills. The cost $17 dollars and they handed to me NOT IN A BOTTLE but loose into my hand.
I love this project. I go through many bottles a month.
I will be sending all of them.
And people need not worry the people in Malawi will not waste.
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I lived in Malawi 1991 and again in 1994. I think your project is Brilliant! Will send you some very soon!
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This is GREAT!
Pharmacies don’t accept returned bottles anymore, maybe contacting a few big chain pharmacies would help!
I’ve been wanting to do something else for them, Dog Collars, and Leads/Leashes are also desperately needed.
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Regarding the fact that the bottles that are sent won’t be recycled, besides the fact that saving lives is still more important than recycling, most of the prescription pill bottles ARE NOT RECYCLABLE! (Which may not be the case in other states, but in NY, these little bottles with the #5 on the bottom, can’t be recycled). This has always been a pet peeve of mine. So it’s not a worry after all.
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It is unlawful to recycle them in this country.
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Just read this on a few sites about recycling #5.
“Plastic #5 – PP (Polypropylene)
•Increasingly becoming accepted by curbside recycle programs, plastic #5 is also one of the safer plastics to look for.
•It is typically found in yogurt containers, ketchup bottles, syrup bottles, and medicine bottles.
•Polypropylene is recycled into brooms, auto battery cases, bins, pallets, signal lights, ice scrapers, and bycycle racks.
Read more: http://naturalsociety.com/recycling-symbols-numbers-plastic-bottles-meaning/#ixzz3l16R9K5I
Follow us: @naturalsociety on Twitter | NaturalSociety on Facebook
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I have empty containers that my test strips come in, the lids snap shut. Can I send these?
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Is suggests any small pill bottle. Not just prescription. So yes. I didn’t think about these that my hubby has. So thank you for the question.
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I take a LOT of supplements; and the name can’t be removed. Could the bottles be sent with the name on them? I’d have boxes to send.
Thanks.
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Regarding the recycling issue…the bottles are being reused which is just as good or better than recycling.
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I agree.i was always taught in school as a kid,reuse is a step up from recycling bc it doesnt require energy or polution like a recycling plant. So your better off reusing everything you can than sending off to be recycled in town. 1Reduce, 2 Reuse, then 3 Recycle
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Except that you’re forgetting the energy costs and carbon emissions in transport. One would need a full life cycle analysis to know.
I’m not disagreeing with this as a short term solution, but it would be far better in the long run, environmentally and from the perspective of national self reliance, if the bottles could be reused locally, and the overseas country supported in finding its own resources for packaging the medication.
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Great idea…I’ve always wanted to find something to do with the empty medicine bottles. I think it’s such a waste of resources to recycle them when I know they can be used for something. We are so priveledged we dont even have to reuse the empties. Thank you for sharing this idea!
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Excellent! Always looking for ne ways to use or recycle – I am so glad to save & send for this project! ! !
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CRAP! I just took like 10 to the recycling center! I’ll be saving them from now on!
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Great idea.
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I really enjoyed this article so much that I took a pic and will send you my bottles from now on. I often wonder what to do with all the bottles I have bc I hate throwing things away if someone in need can use them. It’s only so many projects you can do with them before you run out of ideas.
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Wow this is what’s wrong with our country!! Yes worry about some third world country yet there are so many in the US that can’t afford the medication they need while this third world country gets free medication and complains that they don’t have bottles to put it in!
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Amanda, if there is a program out there where people can send their old bottles and it translates into people in the U.S. getting their needed medicine, please tell us.
This is what is good about America. It’s great that people would rather gather up their old bottles for reuse than to let them go to a landfill. Americans are not selfish and intelligent use of resources such as this should be a hallmark of our country, not something that is ridiculed. Hyperbole and band wagon logic only hurt this country so I urge you to be part of the solution instead.
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How would you like to be given your medication by hand, every day, no gloves, no sanitizers, nothing. Grow up and open your eyes. These people have nothing and here you are complaining about us giving empty bottles to a country so damn poor. You have to be a Republican because a Democrat wouldn’t think the way you do. As the reader said, try to be part of the solution, not the problem. We all live in the same world. Let’s try to at least help each other.
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I have several bottles! I was just telling my husband last night I wish someone could use these. I had taken all the labels off and they are in recycling. But luckily that in my kitchen still😊 unfortunately I will have more… but now they can help me and others,too.
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I take about 25 meds and vitamins a day and so always have a bunch of medicine bottles to recycle. My weekly trash looks like a hospital room’s trash. I’d much rather recycle them than toss them away. Glad to hear of this program so now I’ll be saving them for this project and will tell my friends about this program, too so they can recycle theirs. We can just mail them together in the same box frequently. Great idea!
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I saved my bottles for a one time project the children did at my church. After cleaning, they put 30 Bible verses in the bottles and took them to the sick and shut in. This is a great idea and I will be saving my bottles for this project.
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My art students want to decorate them with permanent markers, designs and I hope you feel better soon etc. Is that OK?
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What about the possibility of contamination? How are they cleaned for reuse? It’d be sorta like sending a half used roll of toilet paper, or maybe paper towels, no?
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As a T7 complete paraplegic for the past 11yrs, I take at least 8 different scripts/day. I’m also an avid reuse/recycle individual. I’ve saved a 1000 or more for possible reuse because they’re not recyclable. My wife has blamed it on my OCD, so she sent this article to me as soon as she found it. I’ll send all I have as soon as I can. See Diane, sometimes there is a method to my madness.
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Okay, technologically challenged here. How does one save the photo of the address as a contact? That’s a great idea but I have no idea how to do it!
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Lol, it’s called a snap shot. It depends on what kind of phone you have, you can Google it and find the answer.
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Wish I would have seen this 3 weeks ago- after peeling off over 200 labels I took bottle to the plastic recycling bin- will start saving them now.
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I’ve probably got more than what is pictured at the top of the page if you want them. Do you have large mailers available? Or prepaid shipping boxes?
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we have been saving but to be honest we do not have the funds to send the amount we have is there some one here with an idea my email chriszaiger@gmail.com not looking for money from anyone just away to send them with out costing so much
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go to the post office and ask. You don’t need to send them first class mail. There is probably a cheaper option for you.
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At the post office choose Smart Post for your shipping method. Shipping time is longer but the cost is much less.
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Hate to throw my bottles away. When I do for some reason I feel guilty. I asked my pharmacy if I could return the empty bottles. I was told no. Now I have a way for them to be used!!! Got to go. Got some work to do. I am on a mission!
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If the bottles are shipped in a shipping envelope won’t they be crushed in transit?
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Is this a legitimate site ? I and my group would love to become involved but I can get no response from you .
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Bottles may also be used in 3rd world countries to collect urine and stool samples for lab testing. Unfortunately sometimes it costs too much the charities to ship them. I carry as may as I can in my luggage when I go on medical missions
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I suggest to recover those bottles used for the sugar blood test that look like 35mm film canister.
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the address is in indiana???
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That’s probably where they package them up to ship them overseas. How many people would mail to an overseas address?
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Great initiative but one of the real impediments is privacy. I find it hard, like a real pain to get the labels off. This is unnecessary if the Pharmaceuticals could use an easy peel label.
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BTW…just because you can’t go internationally to build for Habitat for Humanity, find a local affiliate and volunteer on their build! Affordable housing for low income is needed everywhere and we take all volunteers. I guarantee you’ll be blessed!
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I LOVE this!! Count me in!!
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People who say that the bottles won’t be recycled need to do a little research on how some less privileged countries dispose of household waste. Take Peru for instance. Garbage collected is taken to the shoreline and pushed into the ocean everyday. Large equipment, such as used at landfills, shove tons of garbage into the Pacific ocean. Now, people need something as small as medicine bottles-desperately need bottles to safeguard precious medications and someone is rattling on about recycling? All of the recycling efforts done, say, here in the US, countries like above described just undo. Our efforts amount to spitting into the wind. But, I’m going to continue recycling anyway.
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How can they be mailed in flat Manila envelope and not get damaged ??
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My prescriptions come to me monthly from the Veterans Health Administration in flimsy plastic type white envelopes. Been receiving them this way for years and not ONCE have I had a problem with broken bottles or damaged packages.
Just in case you are uncomfortable with the envelope you could put the empty bottles in a large freezer bag first, wrap the freezer bag in bubble wrap then put in the envelope. Remember you are sending to a collection site in Indiana and not internationally.
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A small flat rate box is available at your Post Office.
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What about the red target prescription bottles?
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Awesome program
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I think this is a great idea. – Glad to say I don’t have a medicine bottle or “over the counter” bottle in my home.
If your interested in knowing how to use natural products in your kitchen to stay healthy, I do private consults and teach groups. No charge, depending on what state your in and if I’m traveling to that area soon.
When I visit homes, I see an entire tray of meds & wonder if this could have been avoided living a healthier life style or EMPOWERING yourself and your family on what’s available for your well being.
Change young children’s ideas before they think medicine is the first answer.
How many meds are taken for the side effects caused by another med?
Disclaimer: Always speak to your Dr first before making any change in meds.
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Check with your local churches or other groups. Our church participated in a similar program for quite a while, so I could just take my bottles there instead of having to mail them off somewhere.
Someone mention REDUCE, Reuse, Recycle. That’s what I WISH I could do. Back in the 60’s, my mom used to get her meds from the local druggist in small carboard boxes. Personally, I’d rather get my pills in a little paper envelope than in these wasteful plastic bottles. I wish I had that choice. If they have to be in plastic, at least let me return my own containers for refill. But no, too much liability in a common sense idea like that.
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What a wonderful idea! Have you looked into other underprivileged areas of the world that would benefit from such a cause? This could be huge! I alone get about 12 – 15 medicine bottles a month. While I’m aware that that is above average, the impact of everyone sending in their bottles would be limitless!
I can’t offer funding but I can offer time. Let me know if and how I can be of assistance.
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Do I pay for the shipping or is it provided?
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I have an infant who goes through over 100 tiny, 2 oz. bottles of enfamil newborn formula a week. The formula comes in chemical-free bottles using a thick plastic and has a tight seal lid. Although they are not pill bottles, they may serve the same purpose. Will this suffice? If so, I will sterilize in the anti-bacterial cycle of the dishwasher. They are narrow bottles about half the size of a Poland spring water bottle. Google image the product for a better understanding. Please advise. Thanks!
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Someone posted this on FB and I saw it so I just dug 2 out of the trash that goes out in about 1 hour. . Thanks. What a painless and brilliant way to help with something we take for granted.
Those having hissy fits about their provincial ideas need to go to some of these other countries to gain some sort of understanding of what it is to have nothing, instead of the excess in the US that allows us to be ridiculous these days. At least Google some of these countries or watch PBS to broaden horizons.
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