Reviewed and updated May 2025

A member of the public contacted us because they’d noticed some rubbish strewn along a street. It included prescription labels with a person’s name and address. The nature of the prescription clearly indicated the condition of the patient who was being treated with the medication.

The person who discovered the prescription labels informed our Office and we contacted the agency most likely responsible and discussed the situation with them.
The health agency’s rubbish was supposed to have been double-bagged, which would usually prevent spillages. However, the agency also had access to a secure shredding service and is now looking at using that service to dispose of prescription labels on cardboard packaging. 

Each agency is responsible for working out a practical solution that works for their circumstances.
 
An individual agency needs to work out for themselves how it’s best to dispose of this kind of waste. A useful check is to ask what steps you would expect to be taken if the personal information belonged to you.

At home, you might want to rip labels off cardboard packaging and recycle the cardboard while disposing of the prescription label in some other way.

More information on handling health information:

• Office of the Privacy Commissioner Health Information Privacy Fact Sheet 5: Storage, security, retention and disposal of health information 
• Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora - Health Information Security Framework  
• Medical Council of New Zealand: Managing patient records (opens to PDF, 59.6KB).

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