The Deterra Drug Deactivation System is a simple, convenient, and cost-effective way to dispose of unused or expired drugs at home.
At-home drug disposal with the patented Deterra® Drug Deactivation System is the simplest and most effective way to keep drugs out of our lakes, rivers streams and drinking water.
It’s also a cost-effective and simple way to keep drugs away from children and other household members.
Every day, 2,500 kids begin abusing a prescription medication. One-third of people aged 12 and over began using drugs for the first time by using a prescription drug for non-medical purposes.
The patented Deterra® System is powered by proprietary MAT12® Molecular Adsorption Technology.
In a scientifically proven, simple 3-step process, the Deterra pouch can render drugs inert, preventing their misuse.
As a bonus, the Deterra patented technology protects the environment from the effects of non-inert drugs that can still have active compounds that leech into the ground or water.
It’s a simple pouch. Each patented Deterra pouch contains a water-soluble inner pod that contains a unique form of activated carbon. Activated Carbon has been found to effectively bind to a wide variety of drugs and poisons with a few notable exceptions (e.g. iron, lithium, and potassium).
You put the unwanted pills, liquids or patches in the pouch and add warm water, which dissolves the inner pod and releases the activated carbon.
The pills, patches, or liquids are absorbed by the carbon. You seal the pouch and throw it into your regular household garbage can. The pills, liquids or patches are inert and non-retrievable.
The Deterra pouch is made of environmentally sound materials. The plastic pouch and zipper will degrade through the use of organic additives that will be consumed in landfills by microbes typically found there. The end result will be a release of water and carbon dioxide into the environment. There will be very little organic biomass left behind.
The Deterra pouch will deactivate any organic medications including opioids.
However, it will not adsorb metals such as Iron or lithium, which are contained in a small number of medications.
If your medication has specific disposal instructions, please follow the directions as given.
Deterra is available in multiple sizes and recommended capacity is listed on each pouch or container.
Frequently Asked Questions about Deterra Pouches.
A product demonstration is available on Youtube. Deterra also has a facebook page for updates and helpful articles about their products.
You can purchase Deterra Drug Deactivation System pouches on Amazon.
Drug distributor AmerisourceBergen‘s runs a charity that gives resources for drug disposal to communitie sthat apply for them. The products they donate include DisposeRx packets and Deterra bags. So far, the foundation has donated 55,000 of these products.
Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts started sending Deterra Pouches to members who have opioid prescriptions so they can discard any leftovers.
We will probably be seeing more innovative solutions for the opioid crisis in the near future and will continue to report as new information comes up.
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