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MedSafe combines a stainless-steel collection receptacle with a removable prepaid shipback inner liner. When the inner liner fills, authorized persons can safely remove the liner from the collection receptacle, seal it, and return it via common carrier. Inner lines are treated by incineration, rendering the pharmaceuticals non-retrievable per the DEA’s destruction standard.
MedSafe is an unused and expired medication disposal system. This easy-to-operate system accepts controlled (Schedules II-V), non-controlled, and over-the-counter medicines. MedSafe meets the requirements of the DEA Controlled Substances Act. Patients and families deposit unused medications. When the liner is full, it’s sealed, shipped back on a prepaid label, and destroyed by incineration.
Find Your Industry
Retail and community pharmacy Give patients a disposal option at your counter. See pharmacy details →
Hospitals and health systems Offer patients and families a collection point on campus. See hospital details →
Long-term care Handle discontinued resident medications with your pharmacy partner. See long-term care details →
Police, sheriff & fire Offer residents year-round disposal, or connect them to it. See public safety details →
Unused medications pile up in homes. A course of pain medication ends early. A prescription changes. A family member passes away and leaves a cabinet full of bottles.
Most people don’t know what to do with them, so they ask the pharmacist, the discharge nurse, or the front desk at a senior living community. When there’s no good answer, medications stay in the house, go in the trash, or get flushed.
A collection receptacle gives those questions a clear answer, at a place people already visit. For the organization that hosts it, the program is a visible service to patients, residents, families, and the surrounding community.
MedSafe is designed to meet DEA collection receptacle requirements. The organization that runs the program, known as the collector, is responsible for its DEA registration, where the receptacle is placed, and how liners are handled.
Why Pharmacies Host MedSafe
What the Rules Require at a Pharmacy
Collecting is voluntary. A retail pharmacy that chooses to collect modifies its DEA registration to become an authorized collector. Once it does:
Hosting MedSafe at your Pharmacy
Recommended size: The 38-Gallon MedSafe is designed for facilities such as retail pharmacies that collect larger amounts of medication from patients. Smaller-volume pharmacies may prefer the 18-Gallon MedSafe. See specifications
Staff time: Monitoring the receptacle during open hours, locking the opening at close, and changing the liner when it’s full.
What staff don’t do: Count, sort, or log what patients deposit.
Multi-location pharmacies: We can review locations together and help identify where a receptacle fits best.
Download the 38-Gallon spec sheet
Why Hospitals Host MedSafe
What the Rules Require at a Hospital
Hospitals and clinics with an on-site pharmacy may choose to collect by modifying the pharmacy’s DEA registration to become an authorized collector. Once registered:
A collection receptacle is for patient medications only. Hospital inventory, expired stock, and doses wasted at the point of care go through the hospital’s pharmaceutical waste, controlled substance waste, or reverse distribution process. Pharmaceutical Waste Disposal · Controlled Substances Waste Disposal
Where a Receptacle Can Go
Hospital placement rules differ from pharmacy rules. The receptacle must be:
Download the 38-Gallon spec sheet
Why Long-term Care Communities Use MedSafe
What the Rules Require at a Hospital
State rules also apply and vary. Eligibility should be confirmed for each state.
Your Pharmacy Partner’s Role
Because a pharmacy must manage the receptacle, the conversation with your pharmacy provider usually comes first.
Your pharmacy partner:
Your community:
Sharps MWS works with long-term care communities and their pharmacy partners to set up the program.
Download the 38-Gallon spec sheet
Download the 18-Gallon spec sheet
Residents bring unused medications to police departments, sheriff’s offices, and fire stations throughout the year, not just on Take Back Day. What an agency can do with them depends on whether it’s law enforcement or fire and EMS.
Police departments and sheriff’s offices can host MedSafe directly. Residents deposit medications, including controlled substances, anonymously any time your lobby is open. When the liner is full, staff seal it and ship it for destruction instead of emptying, storing, and transporting loose contents.
DEA recommends that law enforcement transferring collected substances for destruction record the liner’s unique ID and size, the transfer date, and the recipient’s name, address, and registration number. The EPA recommends incineration over landfilling for household medications collected by law enforcement.
Fire stations are open, staffed, and trusted, so residents often bring medications and used needles there. Fire departments aren’t authorized under federal rules to collect controlled substances, so a station can’t take them or host a receptacle that collects them. A police department’s receptacle must be inside a law enforcement location, so it can’t be placed at a fire station either.
Medications that belong to your agency, including expired EMS stock, wasted doses, and controlled substances from your EMS program, are a separate waste stream from resident disposal. Sharps provides controlled substance waste, pharmaceutical waste, and regulated medical waste services for EMS operations.
MedSafe is also designed for narcotic treatment programs. Contact our team to discuss requirements for your setting.
38-Gallon MedSafe is ideal for facilities, such as retail pharmacies, that generate larger amounts of pharmaceutical waste from ultimate users. MedSafe increases foot traffic for retail pharmacies by providing a much-needed service to the community.
MedSafe 38-Gallon Collection Receptacle Specifications
38-Gallon Inner Liner Specifications
18-Gallon MedSafe is perfect for facilities that generate smaller amounts of pharmaceutical waste, such as long-term care facilities. MedSafe is convenient and easy to use. Nurses no longer have to spend time mixing unused medication with kitty litter or popping pills out of bingo cards.
MedSafe 18-Gallon Collection Receptacle Specifications
18-Gallon Inner Liner Specifications
Sharps Compliance, Inc. (Sharps) fully complies with DOT regulations for the transport of such drugs collected for disposal as authorized by the DOT under Special Permit # DOT-SP 20284. Click the link for the Special Permit under which the Company operates.
MedSafe is designed for long-term care facilities (LTCF), licensed law enforcement, and narcotic treatment centers, as well as retail pharmacies and hospitals and clinics with on-site pharmacies. When used in long-term care, an approved “collector” must manage the MedSafe collection receptacle program.
A collector is an approved DEA registrant that applies with the DEA to collect controlled substances from ultimate users. Retail pharmacies can install and manage a MedSafe collection receptacle program by registering with the DEA as a collector. Additionally, retail pharmacies may install and manage MedSafe programs at LTCFs.
Yes. Both controlled (Schedules II-V) and non-controlled substances can be disposed of in the MedSafe collection receptacle. With MedSafe, facilities have one complete solution for disposal of non-hazardous unused medications.
The MedSafe medication collection and disposal systems is available for sale or lease to facilities approved by the DEA to manage collection receptacle programs. For more information on each option and pricing, please contact a Sharps Compliance sales consultant at 888.364.9201.
Inner liners are available for purchase in a four-pack option or they are auto-shipped when the MedSafe system is leased. Pricing is dependent on program purchaselease options. To learn more about MedSafe and which option best meets your facility’s needs, please contact a Sharps Compliance sales consultant at 888.364.9201.
Sharps Compliance has created materials to help you market MedSafe to your community. You will have access to postcards, flyers, posters, and much more so you can spread the word about MedSafe.
Market Leading Ultimate-User Medication Disposal Solution
