Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Drinking Water Category
Click here to view all posts

Proper disposal of old drugs is changing; but just what is best way to dispose of them?

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on October 6, 2008 at 7:58 am

Thanks to Diana for sending me this one! From the Sacramento Bee:

Hoping to keep streams and groundwater cleaner, the people who run sewage plants around California want to change the way we get rid of old medicines.

The toilet is out. The hazardous-waste site is in. Except where it’s not. Then there’s the trash.

Advocates hoping to deliver the message “No Drugs Down the Drain” are struggling with exactly where else unwanted medications should go. “Everybody is trying to do the right thing, and right now our laws just haven’t caught up with what the right thing is,” said Jen Jackson, the effort’s statewide coordinator.

To help people navigate the legal morass, the campaign is coordinating special drop-off events statewide, including two planned for Saturday in Auburn and Roseville. It’s also publicizing hazardous-waste sites that routinely accept medications, including four in the Sacramento region.

Just what to do with the old drugs is a perplexing problem:

If a pharmacy collects unused medications, it is considered medical waste, and that’s expensive to get rid of. If a waste site takes it, technically a law enforcement officer has to be there, because controlled substances make up about 10 percent of discarded medicine.

Federal drug law forbids passing along to others painkillers such as Vicodin, which contains hydrocodone. The same law restricts handling of things people might not think of as controlled substances, including Ritalin and other medications with methylphenidate, and even cough syrups that contain codeine.

Read more from the Sacramento Bee by clicking here.

October 6, 2008 · Filed Under Drinking Water

Comments

Leave a Reply