Perhaps you’ve been noticing new blue collection bins around. These support the safe disposal of unwanted and expired prescription medicines. Based on some recent Facebook comments on the North Kitsap Community page, I thought it might be helpful to share some information about the history and broader context of pharmaceuticals in the environment and more importantly, what medicines these kiosks are and are not to be used for.
About the kiosks first. Please don’t use these bins for unwanted or expired vitamins or for over-the-counter (OTC) medicines like cough syrup or aspirin. If a doctor didn’t prescribe it, it doesn’t belong in these bins. All those non-prescription items can be disposed of responsibly in your household trash. If you have a young child or a pet in the house you are worried about, the best recommendation I’ve come across is mixing the tablets or liquid with either used coffee grounds (tea leaves) or pet litter in a sealed ziplock baggie before placing it into the trash bin.
Now for a little more context about how medicines get into our environment and how this disposal program contributes to reducing that problem. Research over the last few decades indicates that there are three pathways by which most of the pharmaceutical compounds are getting into our waterways.
Unmetabolized drug products. Our bodies are not able to use and break down all of the medicine in the tablets and capsules we swallow, nor are the bodies of our pets and farm animals that get treated with antibiotics and other drugs. Estimates support that the largest share of drugs in waterways come from human and animal urine and feces, which, even if the wastewater is treated, gets into our water systems.
Do not EVER flush unused prescription medicine down sinks or toilets. Sewage treatment plants are generally not designed to remove pharmaceuticals from wastewater. Depending on the drug, removal efficiencies range from only 20 to 80 percent.
Industrial sewage from pharmaceutical manufacturing plants. Factories that make these potent drug compounds are highly regulated, but a few poorly managed or poorly regulated factories with discharges into rivers and streams can be a localized source of pharmaceuticals into receiving streams.
So as you can tell, this is an issue that involves multiple source pathways and therefore requires multiple remedies. Sewage treatment plants around the world have been looking at ways to improve pharmaceutical and hormone compound removal efficiencies. Pharmacists and the pharmaceutical industry have launched an educational campaign about not flushing drugs down the drain and providing alternative safe solutions including these new kiosks and unused medicine collection events. Pharmaceutical researchers are looking for ways to increase uptake and metabolism of drug compound(s). Prescribers and the health insurance industry are exploring strategies for reducing the amount of unused medicines being generated.
For more information about the program, visit https://med-project.org. I know that the Kitsap Pharmacy at Central Market has a MED-Project collection kiosk. I suspect we’ll see more in other locations.
— Beth Berglund began a 25 year career with the pharmaceutical company, Merck, in the late 1980’s as a college intern. Her early work focused on the company’s water protection program which included the then emerging topic of pharmaceuticals in the environment (PIE).
