Leftover prescription opioids carry the risk of being misused and may exacerbate the current opioid epidemic. One strategy to improve safe disposal rates is to make it more convenient to get rid of extra pills. 

A research team led by Anish Agarwal and Kit Delgado mailed at-home disposal kits to patients prescribed opioids after surgery. From self-reported data, 60 percent of patients who received kits disposed of their excess opioids, compared to 43 percent of patients who were only sent information about safe disposal locations. Mailing the disposal kits was simple and inexpensive - making this a scalable solution.