Seal&Send Drug Take Back Program for Safe Medication Disposal Near You

Safe, sustainable, and trackable Seal&Send™ medication mail back envelopes make it convenient for consumers to dispose of medication at home. This helps keep prescription drugs out of the wrong hands and out of the environment.

Protect People and the Planet with a Trusted Leader in Medication Disposal

Safeguard Your Community

Position your brand as a community and sustainability leader by promoting environmental stewardship and protecting public health. Stericycle offers safe, convenient, compliant, and consumer drug take back solutions for your organization.

Convenient Consumer Drug Disposal

Seal&Send envelopes can be distributed by any organization – no DEA registration required! Consumers package and mail their unwanted or expired medications to Stericycle in secure, anonymous, prepaid envelopes via USPS.

Environmentally Friendly Medication Disposal

Prevent the prescription drug abuse and environmental contamination risks caused by unused drugs. Seal&Send envelopes ensure drug waste is compliantly destroyed via medical waste incineration to remove drugs from the home and environment.

Drug Disposal Data Tracking and Analytics

Track your medication disposal program utilization and ensure return on investment. Stericycle’s proprietary DEA tracking system records every envelope received.

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Our Seal&Send Drug Take Back Program

Customers and patients appreciate the convenience of unused and expired medications returns via mail. Add additional value to retain customers and promote brand loyalty by offering a safe disposal solution for unwanted medications.

Ideal for:

  • A supplement or replacement to drug take back collection kiosks for homebound populations, such as rural, disabled, elderly, low-income, etc.
  • Organizations who can’t host a drug take back collection kiosk (kiosks require a DEA registration to host)
  • Employers, health insurers, and benefits organizations to provide as an employee benefit

Our drug take back program includes:

Secure and Anonymous Prepaid Envelopes

  • DEA- and DOT-compliant unmarked prepaid envelopes
  • Easy instructions in English and Spanish
  • Available in boxes of 50 or 500 medication disposal envelopes
  • Can accept DEA controlled Schedules II-V and OTC; tablets/pills, liquids, and creams

Shipping and Destruction

  • DEA- and DOT-compliant shipping via USPS
  • Consumers simply mail prepaid envelopes with regular USPS mail
  • DEA security and witnessing protocols prevent drug diversion
  • Drugs are completely destroyed via medical waste incineration

Program Management and Data Analytics

  • Dedicated program management team ensures medication disposal programs are set up for success with multiple pricing options
  • Experienced customer support team ensures programs remain effective and compliant
  • Data tracking available for shipping and destruction
  • Data analytics reporting available to prove medication disposal program usage and justify ROI

Secure and Anonymous Prepaid Envelopes

  • DEA- and DOT-compliant unmarked prepaid envelopes
  • Easy instructions in English and Spanish
  • Available in boxes of 50 or 500 medication disposal envelopes
  • Can accept DEA controlled Schedules II-V and OTC; tablets/pills, liquids, and creams

Shipping and Destruction

  • DEA- and DOT-compliant shipping via USPS
  • Consumers simply mail prepaid envelopes with regular USPS mail
  • DEA security and witnessing protocols prevent drug diversion
  • Drugs are completely destroyed via medical waste incineration

Program Management and Data Analytics

  • Dedicated program management team ensures medication disposal programs are set up for success with multiple pricing options
  • Experienced customer support team ensures programs remain effective and compliant
  • Data tracking available for shipping and destruction
  • Data analytics reporting available to prove medication disposal program usage and justify ROI

Looking for a consumer drug disposal solution for a DEA registered pharmacy, hospital, or law enforcement agency? Check out our Drug Take Back Kiosk solutions for more information.

Purchase Seal&Send envelopes through our online store.

Together, We Can Protect Our Communities By Properly Disposing of Unused or Expired Medications

Source: Stericycle MedDrop Kiosk Location Report

Source: Stericycle Destroyed Envelopes Report

Source: Stericycle Annual Report 2020

Why Stericycle?

Your Single Nationwide Partners

We manage all healthcare regulated waste streams, and offer related compliance support such as training and educational materials. Our network of localized team members across the country maintain a 97% on-time pickup rate.1

Your Risk Reduction Experts

Our Regulatory Affairs team under Environmental Health & Safety keeps up to date with regulatory changes and engages with federal, state, and local agencies as needed to help keep our customers informed and compliant.

Your Sustainability Champion

In 2023, Stericycle recycled 906 million pounds of paper, incinerated 55 million pounds of pharmaceutical waste, and helped our customers divert 101 million pounds of plastic from landfills by using reusable sharps and pharmaceutical waste containers rather than single-use containers.1

1. Source: Stericycle data, 2023

Until recently, federal guidelines recommended flushing or sewering of unused medications to prevent drug diversion. This practice is now known to cause contamination of waterways that may negatively impact public health and wildlife.

For household medications, the FDA website provides clarity on how to safely dispose of them. The FDA, DEA, and EPA recommend drug take back or mail back programs as the first line approach. If drug take back programs are not available in your community, check the FDA website or view this helpful infographic for instructions on what to do.

If you’re an individual consumer, you can take your expired or unused medication to a Stericycle collection kiosk at your local pharmacy, hospital, or police station, or dispose your leftover medication with a Seal&Send medication mail back envelope. The DEA also hosts public drug take back days twice a year at local law enforcement agencies. If you’re not sure which options are available to you, you can talk to your pharmacist about the best way to safely dispose your medications. Drug take back is the safest and most sustainable option for consumer drug disposal and should always be used unless it’s unavailable in your community.

Pharmaceutical waste generated from a commercial business (such as a hospital, doctor’s office or pharmacy) is regulated differently than medication waste generated from a residence or household. Commercially-generated pharmaceutical waste is regulated by EPA and DOT during transportation and disposal. If you’re a business or organization, it’s critical to partner with a knowledgeable and qualified waste expert, like Stericycle, to help you navigate this regulatory landscape.

Stericycle provides drug take back services to governments, pharmacies, non-profits, and businesses, who in turn provide these services to their communities. If your community doesn’t have safe or easily accessible programs, contact your local elected officials, health department, pharmacies, drug coalitions, employers, or other community organizations and ask them to provide safe drug disposal programs in your area. To help identify the nearest location, the DEA has an online database, which is searchable by zip code or city/state. The agency updates its list frequently to give the latest information about approved disposal locations.

The great thing about Seal&Send envelopes is that they can be distributed by any organization to any individual for home drug disposal, without any DEA registration required by the distributor.

This means that drug and opioid coalitions, government agencies, pharmacies, employers, health insurance and employee benefits providers, public venues, schools, churches, health clinics, dentist offices, and anyone in between can acquire and distribute Seal&Send envelopes to people for home use.

Seal&Send medication mail back envelopes can accept up to 8 oz of consumer/household generated medications, including prescription drugs and over-the-counter medications and supplements. This may include DEA schedules II-V controlled substances, tablets/pills, liquids, and creams. (Of the total 8 oz. capacity per envelope, up to 4 oz. can be from liquids.)

The envelopes cannot accept pharmaceutical waste that is commercially generated by a business or organization, DEA schedule I controlled substances/illicit drugs, needles or sharps, aerosols/inhalers, or any non-pharmaceutical items such as thermometers or bulk chemicals.

Consumer medication mail back programs are regulated by:

  • U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
  • U.S. Department of Transportation
  • State and Local Boards of Pharmacy, Departments of Health, and Departments of Environmental Quality (in some regions)

Stericycle’s data analytics reporting capabilities are an important feature of our Seal&Send medication mail back programs. We track individual envelope serial numbers and receipt dates by carton and can provide an average weight per envelope to facilitate calculations around total pounds collected for your organization.

This data can be used to ensure your program is in full compliance with DEA regulations, optimize your distribution campaigns, and prove program usage to justify the return on your investment.

You can also use this data to report back to the communities you serve with press releases and other marketing communications to let them know how many drugs you’ve removed from people’s homes – possibly preventing drug abuse and saving lives!

Currently, Stericycle’s Seal&Send medication mail back envelopes are available for use in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.

Currently, both of Stericycle’s kiosk service models are available in 47 states. We can also offer our self-service option in Connecticut, Alaska and Hawaii– please contact us for details.

There are many benefits to drug take back programs, including drug take back kiosks and medication mail back envelopes, over drug neutralizing solutions for at-home, consumer use.

These include:

  • Preferred by Federal Agencies
    • Meet DEA, FDA, and EPA preferred recommendations for safe household drug disposal via medical waste incineration
  • Convenience
    • Collection kiosks are conveniently located at pharmacies and hospitals where people already go to pick up their prescriptions and receive healthcare.
    • Seal&Send envelopes are very simple and easy to use for at-home disposal. Simply drop the drugs into the anonymous, prepaid envelope, seal it, and drop into the mailbox. No complicated mixing requirements.
  • Sustainability
    • Drug take back programs that utilize incineration completely removes leftover drugs from homes and the environment. This prevents pharmaceutical waste, plastics, and liquids from ending up in garbage and landfills – protecting waterways and drinking water systems.
  • Cost Effectiveness
    • Kiosk boxes can contain about 33 gallons or up to 65 pounds of drugs per box – the lowest cost per pound disposal option available.
    • Seal&Send envelopes can hold up to 8 oz of drugs for at-home use – more capacity than most drug neutralizing products.
  • Trackability
    • All packages received and destroyed are tracked and can provide valuable program insights and justify return on investment

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