apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I was surprised to see "Prescription Medications--Flush" in the recycling guide portion (with the caveat of "This is only a guide"). This is contrary to everything else I have read. Most water treatment facilities are unable to fully filter and remove the chemical compounds in medication; they're therefore discharged into our waterways harming other organisms and back to us, causing antibiotic resistance. Many pharmacies will take unused medication and donate it or incinerate it if it is expired.
I did like the other sections--kind of like a school primer on having a happy & clean house! I love DuraBooks!
Any other ideas or knowledge out there about disposing of medicine?

Looks great but I hate the "move away from using chemicals" talk, as that is really impossible. I know it's only semantics but it bugs me that we are trying to teach people stuff and doing it incorrectly. Call it using a more environmentally friendly cleaning method or promote less toxic options but saying anything with the phrase "chemical-free" just made me take your advice that much less seriously.

SkippyB is right: this guide is highly suspect. For example, the dishwashing section doesn't mention the large amount of research showing that machine dishwashers are significantly more environmentally friendly than doing it by hand.

This book looks great! I think its sad tho that people are so willing to pontificate about "the environment" generally (just look at the comments on the global warming post above), but so small a reaction is generated by posts like these, which are useful and tell you how to start actually doing something instead of just talking about it.

Anne in Reno, I also find that whole "chemicals are bad" thing annoying! (And, while I'm ranting about semantically-challenged environmentalists, "organic" is another irritant. "This carrot is organic" - well of course it is!)

I live a pretty hippy lifestyle, we stay out in the country so are conscious of environmental issues but i had always thought that a dishwasher uses less water than handwashing but i guess the electricity thing factors into it. i use the http://www.greenbrands.co.uk/ products for the dishwasher they don't leave that funny smell on the classes.

Of course chemicals are bad, but most people don't do anything about it. It is actually really simple to start eliminating synthetic, dangerous chemicals in the home. The first area to tackle is cleaning products. Not only are these manmade products harmful to the environment they negatively impact our health. All natural cleaners do exist. You have to double check to make sure you are not being tricked by fancy packaging or catchy titles. If they do not list all their ingredients beware. I trust BabyGanics from Healthy Home Products. It is 100% natural. Safe for the environment and us!

LF417, my point was that Chemicals Are Natural. You cannot escape them, you just need to know which ones are safe and which are unhealthy.

About the medication disposal.... I am a pharmacist and the latest thing I have heard is we are supposed to leave the medicine in the bottle, add some water and shake it up to dissolve the medicine. Then throw away the entire bottle, unless it is a dangerous drug.

I think what Anne and Tin Angel are saying is that even "natural" cleaners are "chemicals." Water, for instance, is a chemical -- a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen. And there are lots of "natural" chemicals out there that are harmful to human health -- like the surface coating on poison ivy, or peanuts for certain people with allergies. It's frustrating that there isn't a better set of terms out there for distinguishing between less toxic and less artificial substances (which are usually but not always better for human and environmental health) and more toxic and more artificial substances (which are often but not always worse for our health).

my dad takes all the old pills in our house and incinerates them. My mom didn't want them ending up in the ground and then into our water supplies.