[Pharmwaste] TN program stresses water quality

[Ed Gottlieb]

http://www.chattanoogan.com/2017/4/10/345761/TDEC-Protects-Water-Quality-By.aspx

With the opioid addiction crisis getting all the headlines, it is unusual to see a large program (224 boxes) still stressing water quality.  In this news story, accidental overdose gets mentioned in the fifth paragraph and the words "opioid epidemic" do not appear until the seventh paragraph, more than halfway through.

This program has grown very rapidly.  They collected 22K # in 2014, to 56K in 15, to 82K in 16!  For 2016, that's an average of 366 #/box!  The number of boxes in service over time is not precisely known.  This information is from correspondence with the TDEC, not from the story link above.
Based on our data, in 2008, one collection box was present in Tennessee. In 2012, 23 were added. In 2013, 21 were added. In 2014, 17 were added. In 2015, 36 were added. In 2016, 65 were added, and in 2017, five have been added. We do not know the date of installation of 61 boxes, as those were placed by local law enforcement or others directly. We are up to 229 boxes total, so more are being added consistently.
Ed Gottlieb
Chair, Coalition for Safe Medication Disposal
Board Member, New York Product Stewardship Council
Industrial Pretreatment Coordinator
Ithaca Area Wastewater Treatment Facility
525 3rd Street
Ithaca, NY  14850
(607) 273-8381
fax: (607) 273-8433
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