[Pharmwaste] Proper disposal of old drugs is changing - another article about CA program

[Tenace, Laurie]

It's interesting to read the comments on these articles, too. 

http://www.sacbee.com/health/story/1290768.html

Proper disposal of old drugs is changing
By Carrie Peyton Dahlberg - cpeytondahlberg at sacbee.com 

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.

People are getting increasingly worried about drugs that make their way into
America's waterways. An Associated Press investigation this year found traces
of prescription and nonprescription medicines in the drinking supply of 41
million Americans.

Many of those drugs make a stop in the human body first, as people take birth
control pills, antibiotics or painkillers and then eliminate what their
bodies don't use up.

Americans also discard plenty of medicine - one estimate is 10 million pounds
a year, Jackson said.

"The piece that we can address right now, in an immediate way, is what people
throw away," she said.

Her group wants those drugs out of our waterways because they appear to be
affecting sexual development in fish, and probably also have impacts on
microbes, plants and other aquatic life. The chemicals might be too diluted
to affect people, but no one knows for sure.

Some of the biggest groups that deal with sewage treatment are behind the
collection drive: the League of California Cities, the California Association
of Sanitation Agencies, and the California Water Environment Association.
Even so, there are only around 100 special collection sites planned during
the eight-day drive.

"Our coverage is not fabulous yet. A lot of regulatory issues make it very
hard to set up programs," Jackson said.

Among them: 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.

Both Jackson and a DEA spokeswoman in Washington confirmed that in theory, a
law officer needs to take custody of such controlled drugs. The DEA is
looking into revising its policies. The agency generally focuses on bigger
players than waste disposal sites.

The county of Sacramento might be glad to hear that, since its household
hazardous- waste site has long accepted a smattering of medicines, controlled
or not.

"It's been an extremely minute amount of business, maybe two or three
drop-offs a week," said Chris Andis, public information officer for the
county's solid waste program. The medicine seems unlikely to fall into the
wrong hands, since an employee stands next to a big barrel where people can
deposit wet waste, pharmaceuticals and toxic materials.

"Just picture in your mind dumping drugs into a goopy mess. They're not
really usable" after that, Andis said.

The city of Sacramento's household hazardous-waste site, by contrast, doesn't
accept any medicine, partly because of "security" issues, said spokeswoman
Jessica Hess. The city of Folsom, which sends crews to residents' homes by
appointment to pick up hazardous wastes, will take all medicines except
controlled substances.

The patchwork of polices means there is no simple recommendation for how to
clean out a medicine cabinet.

"We used to recommend for children's safety that you just got rid of them
through flushing them," said Michelle White, a Placer County environmental
resource specialist. "Now, we realize it is harmful to the environment and
our drinking water and our groundwater," she said.

Other options include special collections, like the one next week; a
hazardous-waste site that may accept drugs you want to dispose of; or your
own garbage can.

The toss-it-yourself plan comes with an elaborate set of precautions.
Recommendations include removing personal data from the label, mixing the
drugs with something inedible, putting it back in its own container and then
hiding that container inside something else so no one can tell there are
drugs in your trash.

Oh, and it doesn't hurt to leave the drug name on the label. That way
poison-control workers can refer to it in case, despite all your efforts,
someone's pet or some unwary person ingests it.

Laurie J. Tenace
Environmental Specialist
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
2600 Blair Stone Road, MS 4555
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2400
PH: (850) 245-8759
FAX: (850) 245-8811
Laurie.Tenace at dep.state.fl.us 

Mercury web pages:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/mercury/default.htm

Unwanted Medications web pages:
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/waste/categories/medications/default.htm




Please Note:  Florida has a very broad public records law.  Most written
communications to or from state officials regarding state business are public
records available to the public and media upon request.  Your e-mail is
communications and may therefore be subject to public disclosure.



The Department of Environmental 

Protection values your feedback as a customer. DEP Secretary Michael W. Sole is committed to continuously assessing and 

improving the level and quality of services provided to you. Please take a few minutes to comment on the quality of 

service you received. Copy the url below to a web browser to complete the DEP 

survey: http://survey.dep.state.fl.us/?refemail=Laurie.Tenace@dep.state.fl.us Thank you in advance for completing the survey.