How to Remove a Paper Label from a Plastic Prescription Bottle

Co-authored by Florisa-Leila Ramos

Last Updated: November 8, 2024 References

Plastic prescription bottles can make handy little containers for all sorts of small items, from jewelry to tools to crafting supplies. But those ultra-sticky labels aren’t always so easy to remove without making a mess and potentially ruining the bottle’s appearance. Fortunately, it is easy to coax off a tricky label using common household staples, such as a hairdryer, cooking oil, or water and baking soda.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Heating the Label with a Hair Dryer

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1
Peel back one corner of the label. Use your fingernail to loosen the edge of the label. This will give you something to grip, making it easier to pull off once you start heating the adhesive.^{[1]
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- If the label is coming up without resistance, keep peeling it. You may be able to get the whole thing off without ever having to break out your hair dryer.
- Be careful not to tear the label. This could make it tough to remove in one piece.
2
Wave a hair dryer on high heat over half of the label for 30-45 seconds. Turn on the hair dryer and focus the heat stream on one side of the bottle. Hold the bottle from the opposite side so the heat doesn’t burn your hand.^{[2]
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- For best results, it’s important that your hair dryer be set to its highest heat setting. The warmer the air is, the better it will heat the tacky glue on the backside of the label.
- Heating one half of the label at a time will be more manageable than trying to rotate it while you’re wielding the hair dryer.
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3
Pull back the heated portion of the label. Switch off the hair dryer and set it down on a heat-safe surface. Then, take hold the corner of the label you got started earlier and peel it up and back. It should come away without difficulty.^{[3]
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- The label will be more likely to tear if you pull it straight back.
4
Heat the other half of the label to finish peeling it off. Once you get to the sticking point at around the halfway mark, fire up your hair dryer again and go to work on the other half. After another 30 seconds or so, you’ll have a perfectly clean, residue-free bottle.^{[4]
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- If the label starts catching at any point, simply blast it for another 10 seconds or so and try again.
- You can also try running a razor blade under the bottom edge of the label as you're peeling it up to coax it free. Just be careful not to damage the bottle itself—since it's made from plastic, it will scratch easily.^{[5]
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5
Scrub away faint traces of adhesive with a mild soap solution. If the outside of the bottle is still sticky after removing the label, wet a cloth or sponge with a solution made from warm water and mild liquid dish soap and use it to go over the area that the label was covering. Together, the heat, moisture, and abrasive detergent should be enough to do away with the remaining glue.^{[6]
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- Rubbing alcohol can also be useful for erasing those last difficult bits of adhesive. Try wiping the bottle a folded paper towel dipped in alcohol, or grab an alcohol prep pad like the kind used to prepare skin for vaccines to save time.^{[7]
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Tip: Olive oil is another safe, natural, and readily-available solvent that works wonders on persistent adhesive residue.^{[8]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Soaking the Bottle in Water and Baking Soda

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1
Fill a small container with 3–4 cups (710–950 mL) of warm water. Turn on the faucet and let the water heat up until it’s nice and warm. Then, run a few inches into a small drinking glass, bowl, or food storage container. Set your soaking container out on your countertop.^{[9]
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- The exact amount of water you use isn’t important. All that matters is that you have enough liquid to completely submerge all the bottles you want to soak.
- You could also use olive or vegetable oil instead of water, though this may make things a little messy.^{[10]
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Add roughly 4 tablespoons (50 g) of baking soda to the still-warm water. Use a measuring spoon to portion out your baking soda and dump it into your soaking container. Whisk the baking soda in the water by hand until it dissolves completely.^{[11]
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- If you don’t have a measuring spoon handy, grab a big spoon from your silverware drawer. One of these is equal to about 1 tablespoon (12.5 g).
3
Toss your bottles in the baking soda solution and soak them for 30 minutes. Place each of the bottles you want to and push them beneath the surface of the liquid. Once you’ve done that, simply go about your business as usual for the next half hour.^{[12]
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- Set a timer or keep an eye on the clock so you’ll know when the bottles are finished soaking.
Tip: Taking the lids off of your bottles will prevent them from floating.
4
Peel or scrub off the disintegrating labels. By this time, the baking soda will have broken down the adhesive to the point where they may come off on their own. If not, you’ll need to help them along by hand, or with a soft sponge. You shouldn’t take much to get your bottles cleaned up and ready for their new use.^{[13]
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- If necessary, plop your bottles back into the solution while scrubbing them to remove any clinging scraps of paper.
5
Use baking soda and dish soap to dissolve labels that put up a fight. Combine equal parts baking soda and liquid dish soap in a small dish and mix the two ingredients until they form a thick paste. Smear the paste onto the outside of the bottle using a cloth or sponge and let it sit for about 5 minutes before wiping it off. The rest of the label should vanish with it.^{[14]
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- Flip your sponge over and use the abrasive side if you need to increase your scrubbing power.
- You can use this solution to deal with troublesome adhesive residue after the fact or apply the paste directly to the label itself.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Dissolving Stubborn Adhesive with Oil

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1
Remove as much of the label as possible by hand. Start by scraping up a corner of the label with your fingernail and using the flap to peel off the bulk of the label. Don’t worry if your handiwork isn’t very clean—that’s what the oil is for.^{[15]
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- If you’re having trouble getting the label started, soak the bottle in warm water for 10-15 minutes before giving it another shot.
- This method works best as a secondary measure to get rid of leftover label adhesive, but you could also use it on a label that’s still in place.
2
Crack open a container of cooking oil. Olive or vegetable oil are two of the most frequently-recommended oils for label removal, but you could also use canola, peanut, sunflower, avocado, or any other liquid oil. Whatever you’ve got lying around in your cupboard should get the job done.^{[16]
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- Oils essentially work by weakening the adhesive’s grip on the smooth plastic.
- You’re not guaranteed to have the same luck with semi-solid oils like coconut oil or vegetable shortening, but they might be worth a try if you don’t have anything else on hand.
Tip: In a pinch, a commercial lubricant or solvent like WD-40 or Goo Gone can also do the trick.^{[17]
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Spread the oil onto the remaining residue and let it sit for 5 minutes. Drizzle a little oil onto a folded paper towel and rub it directly onto the outside of the bottle, focusing on spots where the adhesive is still heaviest. Once you’ve done that, set the bottle down and let the oil begin working its magic.^{[18]
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- A cotton swab or soft sponge could also serve as a useful applicator.
- Make sure you wear gloves to protect your hands if you’re working with WD-40 or a similar lubricant or solvent. Products like these can cause minor irritation when brought into contact with exposed skin.^{[19]
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Wipe off the loosened residue. To do this, you can either use the same paper towel you used to apply the oil or grab a wet cloth or sponge. In most cases, a quick rinse with warm water will also be enough to flush away the liquefied adhesive. You can now use your bottle for any number of other projects or purposes.^{[20]
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- If the outside of the bottle feels slick afterwards, wash it with warm water and a few drops of liquid dish soap to lift away the excess oil.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Freezing off Labels

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Place the empty bottle in your freezer. That’s it. Stick it in the freezer and get back to your busy life. This solution is perfect for when you want to put your empty prescription bottles to other uses but don’t have time to clean them up manually.^{[21]
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- If possible, situate your bottle or bottles in the coldest section of the freezer. In most freezers, this will be on the top shelf, or in the back near the air vents.^{[22]
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- Freezing is perhaps the most hands-off way to remove stuck-on prescription labels, but not everyone may get the same results.
Warning: In order for this method to work, it’s important that the temperature of the surrounding environment be as low as possible. A refrigerator just won’t have the same effect.
2
Leave the bottle in the freezer for 3-5 hours. No need to bother with a timer. Just let the bottle sit for a few hours and come back and check on it later. In the meantime, avoid opening the freezer anymore than necessary to ensure that the temperature inside stays constant.^{[23]
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- The idea is that the cold air circulating through the freezer will make the tacky adhesive brittle, eventually breaking its grip on the plastic and causing it to fall right off.^{[24]
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3
Peel off the chilled label in one piece. In all likelihood, you’ll open your freezer to find the label lying at the base of the bottle. If that’s not the case, just pry up one corner and marvel at how effortlessly the rest comes loose. It’s that simple!
- On the off chance that the label is still sticky, you can always give it a brief soak in warm, soapy water, zap it with a hair dryer, or wipe it down with cooking oil to finish what you started.

Community Q&A

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Question

On medicine bottles, the label will come off but leaves the glue behind. How do I get that off?

T. Chinsen

Top Answerer

The methods in the article should clean off the glue residue. A cotton ball soaked with 90% isopropyl alcohol will also clean the adhesive off without damaging the medicine bottle. Use of acetone will dissolve plastic as well as any adhesive.

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How do you remove paper from a bottle?

Drew Hawkins1

Community Answer

Try peeling back one corner of the label and then heating it with a hairdryer on high heat for about 30 seconds. Then, peel off the label carefully and scrub the sticky glue away with a mild dish soap. If that doesn't work, soak the bottle in a small container with 3–4 cups (710–950 mL) of warm water and about 4 tablespoons (50 g) of baking soda for 30 minutes before peeling it off.

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How do you get glue off bottles?

Drew Hawkins1

Community Answer

Get as much of the label off of the bottle as you can and then spread olive or vegetable oil all over the bottle. Let the oil sit for 5 minutes so it can soak into the glue. Then, take a paper towel, cloth, or sponge, and scrub away the sticky adhesive before rinsing the oil off of the surface with clean water.

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Tips

Consider recycling your used prescription medication bottles, or donating them to an organization that provides impoverished communities with safe, sanitary containers for storing much-needed medicines.^{[25]
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You can use your empty bottles to store jewelry, keys, spare change, writing utensils, cotton swabs, hair pins, needles and thread, snacks, or even miniature candles.

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Different bottles are made with different materials. It may be necessary to try out several methods in order to find one that works for the bottle you want to repurpose.

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Warnings

Never reuse a prescription bottle for another type of medication. For the safety of you and others, your medication containers should always be clearly labelled to indicate their contents.

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