[Pharmwaste] Survey on Disposal of Unwanted Medicines

[Eva Dale]

Below is a press release just put out by Washington Citizens for Resource
Conservation. A link to the full survey is at the end.
-Eva Dale
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 16, 2006

CONTACTS:
Eva Dale or Suellen Mele
Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, 206-441-1790

What to Do with Unwanted Medicines?
Survey finds that pharmacies would be the most convenient drop-off locations

Seattle, Washington - A telephone survey of Seattle area residents found
that 72% of households dispose of unwanted medicines in their garbage or by
flushing them down their toilets or sinks.  The survey, released by
Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, was prompted by a growing
awareness that pharmaceuticals are detectable at low but environmentally
significant levels in streams, lakes and other surface waters that flow into
Puget Sound.  Medicines enter the environment through several different
pathways, including direct disposal to sewers or landfills.

The survey also found that only one in three (33%) Seattle area residents
are actively using or planning to use all the medicines they have in their
households in the next six months.  Three-quarters (74%) of the respondents
said they would be willing to properly dispose of their unused or expired
medicines by returning them to a convenient location.  Local pharmacies were
chosen as the most convenient location to dispose of unwanted medicines by
84 percent of the respondents.  Four in five (80%) respondents stated that
they are likely to return their unwanted medicines to their local pharmacy
if a secure drop box were set up there for this purpose.

Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation (WCRC) is working with a
coalition of government and private sector partners to develop a pilot
project to provide drop off options for unwanted household medicines at
select participating pharmacies in Washington State.  "We want to make
unwanted pharmaceuticals as easy to return as they are to purchase," said
Eva Dale, Project Manager for WCRC.  "Based on the results of the survey, we
expect a high level of participation by residents once the pilot is
launched."

The goal of the upcoming pilot project is to decrease unwanted household
medicines entering our surface waters through improper disposal.  Scientists
are beginning to link pharmaceutical contaminants in surface waters to
biological effects on the endocrine systems of hundreds of freshwater,
estuarine and marine species.

The WCRC survey of King County residents was conducted using SoundStatsTM, a
monthly omnibus survey fielded by Northwest Research Group.   Additional
detail is provided in the survey highlights
http://www.wastenotwashington.org/Pharmsurveyhighlights.htm and survey
findings http://wastenotwashington.org/Pharmsurvey.pdf.


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Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation is a nonprofit advocacy group
working to keep Washington a leader in waste reduction and recycling.