[Pharmwaste] Just to share a pilot pharm. program launched 9-19-07

[Marta Keane]

This appeared on the front page of newspaper yesterday - its the best coverage we've seen on any of our waste & recycling programs.

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/561819,4_1_JO18_TAKEBACK_S1.article

Pill pollution

A NEW COUNTY PROGRAM CAN HELP YOU GET RID OF YOUR OLD PRESCRIPTIONS -- WITHOUT THE RISK OF TAINTING OUR WATER SUPPLY AND HURTING AREA WILDLIFE.

September 18, 2007
FROM STAFF REPORTS
JOLIET -- Will County officials will join with a Joliet pharmacy to offer a program for the safe disposal of medications that are old or no longer needed.

The program will start Wednesday at Basinger's Marycrest Pharmacy, 2130 W. Jefferson St. Will County Executive Larry Walsh and the pharmacy's owner, Harish Bhatt, will launch the effort at 10 a.m.
 
Pharmacist Harish Bhatt from Basinger Pharmacy in Joliet is one of many pharmacists starting the new Will County old medicine disposal program Wednesday. 
(Terence Guider/STNG) 
"I see it as a community safety program," Bhatt said.

"Too often people aren't sure what to do with expired prescriptions or medicine they no longer need," Walsh said.

"Many people used to simply flush the extras, but unfortunately some of that medicine ends up in our water supplies. While there have been no documented cases of anyone becoming ill from the practice, we want to do everything we can to keep our water supplies safe."

The new program is for all non-narcotic medications, including inhalers, medicated shampoos and mercury-containing medical items such as blood pressure gauges and thermometers. 

Even vitamins can be disposed through the program, said Marta Keane, the recycling specialist at the Will County Land Use Department.

The program can be helpful for people when they take a medication and, for example, have a bad reaction, causing a doctor to take the person off the drug, she said. The problem is that once a medication is opened and used, a doctor and a pharmacy can't take it back, Keane said.

The pharmacy will not accept narcotic medications, she said. 

The department urges people to dispose of narcotics by throwing them away with coffee grounds, Keane said. 

The federal government advises using coffee grounds or other undesirable substances to decrease the chance of the pills being fished out of the garbage by a person or animal.

Pilot program
Will County is doing the medicine take-back effort at a permanent site as part of a pilot program that the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency is running, Keane said. In Kendall County, the agency is doing the same pilot program with the Yorkville Police Department, she said. 
"We are, to my knowledge, the only participant that is doing this program in partnership with a retailer," Keane said.

"The idea is that the hours of operation for a collection program at a pharmacy are incredible, because it is open 365 days a year and about 12 hours a day.

"This is a safety issue," she said about the program. "It is a way to prevent a problem, that of someone storing something and then having small hands find it." 

About a year ago, the IEPA announced a reversal in medication disposal directions. The agency did that after the U.S. Geological Survey found that pharmaceuticals were surviving wastewater treatment and showing up in 80 percent of the fresh waters that were tested.

"Research showed no connections between medication residue in the water and human health," Keane said. "But researchers are studying the links between the development of fish and medications in the water." 

Hazardous waste
The county's land use department has offered one-day household hazardous waste collection events since the 1990s, where people could dispose of unwanted medications. 
On Saturday, the department held a disposal day in New Lenox. Thirty-five people brought medications, including a bottle with medicine from 1985, Keane said.

A similar household waste collection day will be from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Reed-Custer High School in Braidwood.

The state environmental agency also operates three permanent medicine disposal sites, in Chicago, Rockford and Naperville. The Naperville facility, in DuPage County, is at 1971 Brookdale Road.

Basinger's Marycrest Pharmacy is open from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. 

For more information, call Basinger's at (815) 725-1102 or the Will County Land Use Department (815) 727-8834. Information about the program is on the land use department's Web site, at www.willcountylanduse.com.

Staff writer Ken O'Brien contributed to this report. 


-----Original Message-----
From: pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us
[mailto:pharmwaste-bounces at lists.dep.state.fl.us]On Behalf Of
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Sent: Friday, September 14, 2007 3:06 PM
To: pharmwaste at lists.dep.state.fl.us
Subject: Pharmwaste Digest, Vol 23, Issue 4


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