Mira Browning
In this day and age, many people have old prescription drugs laying around their houses that are years old. These drugs are usually forgotten about until one goes to clean out the medicine cabinet, and then those pills are flushed down the toilet, or disposed of some other irresponsible way, and forgotten about. Nobody considers the harmful effect each little tablet has on the environment.
Drugs that are flushed down the toilet can leach into the water supply and contaminate it. Many pharmaceutical-related chemicals have been found in waterways and drinking water across the country. These chemicals can harm humans, as well as marine ecosystems. A study by the University of Illinois tells us that chemicals from drugs flushed into waterways causes unusual growth patterns, abnormal behaviors, and disruption of reproduction cycles in marine life.
Medications that are disposed of irresponsibly can also leech into the groundwater through a septic system. Treatment systems are designed to remove foreign substances from the water before redistributing it back to the public water supply, but these systems have not been equipped to remove drugs. Because of our inability to fix this problem, nearly 40% of the nation’s water supply is permeated by pharmaceuticals through aquifers deep underground, according to an Associated Press investigation.
In order to prevent this issue from damaging the environment even more, there are several ways to dispose of medications safely.
The first option is a drug take-back program. These programs are good ways to get rid of unneeded medications. Several times per year, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) hosts a National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day to provide a safe, convenient and responsible way for disposing medications. Since 2010, the DEA has collected over 9 million pounds of prescription drugs.
Another option is drug collection kiosks. These are being set up at retail locations and hospitals as a convenient way to dispose of drugs at places that know what to do with them. For example, Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreens and Lake Forest, Illinois-based waste disposal company Stericycle Environmental Solutions recently teamed up to install more than 600 drug collection kiosks in Walgreens stores nationwide to provide a safe, convenient and free way for consumers to return unused medication. To dispose of medication at a kiosk, all one has to do is package the pills and drop it into the opening of the kiosk. It’s simple and easy, and it keeps the environment safe. It is important to keep in mind that most medications, vitamins, ointments, liquids and lotions can be accepted, while needles, inhalers, hydrogen peroxide and illegal drugs cannot be.
Questions: What is another way you can think of that is a safe way to dispose of drugs? What should treatment systems do to filter out drugs in the water supply? Have you ever flushed medication down the toilet? How many leftover pill bottles do you have just sitting around your house right now?
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28 comments:
One way I can think that would make it easier for consumers to safely dispose of drugs is to have a free mail-in system where you can mail in your unused drugs to a disposal site, or to have a yearly trash pic up for unused medicine. This way people can dispose of unneeded medicine from the comfort of their home with no cost to them. I think that this would encourage people to participate more willingly because it would be just as easy as flushing them. Treatment systems should test the water for the presence of chemicals found in drugs before releasing into natural water ways. And put filters in place to safely remove them from the water. However, if consumers disposed of their medications properly these precautions would not be needed. The government should better educate the people on the effect their medications can have on the environment and advise them on better ways to dispose of their medicine to help the environment. I personally have never flushed medicine down the drain but I do have a lot of half full pill bottles in my house.
In the past, I've never really considered flushing old medicine down the toilet as a means of disposal because I was afraid of the impact it could have on plumbing. Instead, I've either just thrown it into the garbage or let it stockpile in the back of my cabinet. However, I understand the appeal of flushing old medicines down the toilet for people who are more organized than I am. Thanks to this blog post, I am also aware of the impact that flushing medicines can have on our water supply and the dangers it poses to marine life. I think that the best way to encourage safe disposal of medicine is the kiosks available in retail locations. This option gives people the opportunity to dispose of their medicine whenever they need to. The drug take-back program is also a good idea, however, since it's not enforced throughout the year, a person looking for a more immediate solution to the amount of old medicine they may have might just resort to flushing it down the toilet for time's sake.
I don't personally handle medication so I have not had the issue of disposing of them but I have seen other people get rid of it incorrectly. One new way that could be used to approach safe disposal is to have safe and sealed up disposal bins set up at many locations. They would be scattered around the city so that it is easy to access one instead of having to go to one certain site which may be far away. This would incentivize people to properly throw them and take laziness out of the equation. In case people still do flush them down the toilet maybe there should be a filter like we have for regular water which could try to get rid of the majority of the chemicals polluting the water.
Personally, I have never dealt with this issue because all the medication I have taken I have been mandated to consume it all, but I know that for my parents whenever there is an expired medicine in the cabinet they simple throw it into the trash. I have never known anyone to actually dump medicine into the trash as we don’t know for sure where the water goes. I do think if we place more locations for proper disposal of medicines around the city it would encourage people to properly dispose of them. We can even incentivize them by giving out change per bottle that is disposed like how water bottles can get you a nickel in certain states. Another way we could raise awareness on how to properly dispose medicine is by placing them on the bottles themselves. I don’t know if this is already being done, but we can possibly make them in larger text and put warning signs of the dangers and hazards it could to lead to if disposed incorrectly.
Although I have seen road signs advertising the disposal of drugs across Flower Mound on specific days, I have never actually participated in the event. I'm not really sure what my family does with expired or old medicine, as I don't usually handle such things. Nevertheless, I am now more aware of the negative environmental impacts flushing or carelessly throwing away drugs can have, especially after reading this blog post and watching Dark Waters. I have seen people who have a specific small bin that they empty responsibly for the sole purpose of getting rid of old medicine. To encourage responsible waste disposal, I think that pharmacies should start or advertise that they collect old medicine which they could then dispose of. This would give more people access to a proper disposal site. I'm going to encourage my family to be more mindful of their medicine disposal so that we too can minimize the damage we inflict on the environment.
I have never really been in the situation of disposing expired medication, but I believe the best way to do that is set up up bins at many places around the metroplex just for the sole purpose of disposing medication. Once a week there will be someone to pick it up and dispose of them properly. I believed that this is the fastest and most reliable option. About me, I can say that I have most definitely not flushed medication down the toilet because just thinking about that makes me cringe. Also, my family doesn’t necessarily have leftover pill bottles around our house.
All around, I feel there needs to be better ways to dispose of many different items that exist in our daily lives such as batteries, plastic bags, and, of course, drugs. A clear solution for all of these is to place collection kiosks in convenient locations and to spread awareness of their whereabouts so that the community can take advantage of them. The idea that medicines can seep into our water should cause much more alarm than it seems to. Practices like flushing medicines down toilets must be thoroughly prohibited and citizens should be taught about the negative effects of doing so in order for them to understand the threat it brings about to the safety of animals, ecosystems, and human developments.
I feel like this topic affects many people in America today. Although I’ve never flushed medicine down the toilet, I have thrown leftovers in the trash, which isn’t very responsible. I understand why you really shouldn’t put anything down the drains that doesn’t belong, but for a long time I believed (and still kind of do) that a well-built landfill like the one we have in Lewisville should prevent toxins from leeching into the soil. I think the best thing we can do is raise awareness that prescription medicine SHOULDN’T HAVE LEFTOVERS IN THE FIRST PLACE. The doctors are trained to prescribe exact amounts to affect your body, and taking less isn’t going to help you or the enviornment. I know it’s a burden, but take your meds!
I have seen the announcements for drug take backs, and while I have not participated in them myself, my mom often takes our expired medications to turn in. I never realized that this medication could infiltrate the water supply, and I would be interested in seeing how countries less privileged tackle this issue without as widely spread collection programs. As a type one diabetic, I have a lot of insulin that I go through that often gets tossed in the trash when I’m finished with most of the contents of a vial and I want to look into more environmentally friendly methods of disposal for it.
I had no idea that prescription waste was such a big issue! I have seen many announcements for medicine recycle bins or take backs, so I think those are valid and resourceful ways to dispose of medicine. It’s so crazy that 40% of our water is contaminated by drugs, because I have never flushed medicine down the toilet. I think to really tackle this issue, there needs to be laws and regulations to require people to recycle their medicine.
I never really considered the severity of this issue until today. The easiest and most convenient method of disposing drugs would be to set up various drug collection bins around the city. This way people will see these stations and recall expired drugs in their possession and they can dispose of them properly. I personally have never flushed any medicine down a toilet, however, I have thrown medicine away in the trash. I did not realize the consequences of this action and I will never do it again. I believe that the best way to reduce this issue is through implementing laws and regulations as well as educating the public on this serious matter.
I believe that the lack of education on these topics are the primary reason for the magnitude of any environmental consequences it has. In fact, I was also unaware of the situation regarding the disposal of medication. However, another major factor the causes the adverse environmental affects of medicine is the lack of accessibility of efficient and resourceful medication disposal facilities. Without knowing or even having a place to safely dispose medication, it is inevitable that any environmental consequences will go unnoticed. I believe that the first step to solving a vast majority of the environmental problems starts with education. The more people know about how and why things work and why they should change, it would be hard to make a difference at all.
I think that kiosks are a fantastic way of getting rid of old prescription medicines. Kiosks in grocery stores like Walmart or pharmacies like CVS will make it simple for people to dispose of these pills. It is very important for kiosks and safe drug disposal programs to be in place because the negative environmental consequences of disposing the pills irresponsibly can affect our clean water. Governments can also take charge by enforcing laws and policies for safe disposal of the expired prescription medicine.
One way to minimize the magnitude of the issue you addressed would be to attach a label or warning not to irresponsibly dispose of drugs. But honestly no one reads those warning labels anyway because I don't really want to read about the potential dangerous and concerning side effects the pill I'm taking may have. This might sound naive but another way to reduce the impact of these drugs is to lower the amount of drugs being prescribed, patients are often over medicated simply as a method of profit for drug companies. The opioid crisis is one example of the scale of pharmaceuticals exploiting patients, attempting to alleviate the flooding of drugs and medicine may also help in reducing the environmental impact.
To resolve this issue, I believe we should put labels on medicine containers and even specific trash cans in pharmacies that way people know the correct way to dispose of their extra or expired drugs. Having labels or kiosks with warnings to not dispose through the toilet or other non-environmentally safe ways can help clear keep drugs out of the water supply. I have never flushed my medication down the toilet. In my family we dispose of the containers by recycling. With the extra or expired medication, there are places at different high schools around Flower Mound that take those medications and dispose of it properly. We need to find a better way for everyone to dispose of drugs easily and create no harm.
This is a very helpful blog. There are always a bunch of medications in our house sitting around but it doesn’t get too cluttered. I’ve never ask the question of why that is until this blog post! As for now, I don’t have to worry about the disposal of medications not only because I hardly own any, but it’s not quite my job to do yet. When I grow older, I will surely remember the proper way of disposing my medicine. Though, it is essential that people know this information; that there is a specific place to go to dispose of this your medication. That is, if they were to install these kiosks in local pharmacies.
The incorrect disposal of drugs is a huge issue that can have so many unpredictable consequences. There really needs to be more awareness about how dangerous it is to simple toss pills into the environment. Health insurance companies could create incentives for dropping drugs off at kiosks, perhaps decreasing the cost of insurance or even getting the next prescription at a discounted price. There should also be more sign put up at hospitals advertising the negative effects of improper drug disposal. I personally have never flushed drugs down the toilet because my dad would kill me if he had to pay for a plumbing service to come fix it. We do have a lot of expired medication in the cabinets though, but we haven’t thrown them away because we didn’t know how to. This post is really helpful in offering solutions to dispose drugs!
I never realized people just dumped out pills in their toilets and flushed them down, but I do have quite a few leftover pill bottles at my house. We never knew what to do with them, but for the most part, we just throw them away. The drug take-back program is a good idea, but I think it should be enforced all year. I think pharmacies can host an event where they take back pills and they can dispose of them properly. This way people will know where to take their pills. I had no idea it was such a big deal.
It never crossed my mind that people threw away disposable drugs by simply flushing them down the toilet. Personally, I would think that flushing disposable drugs down the toilet would cause plumbing issues so I had no idea that people used toilets as a way to throw things away. However, I also have many pill bottles in my house that haven’t been used in years and we just leave them in a cabinet rather than throw them away. I like the idea of a drug take back program so that people could minimize disposing drugs incorrectly. This would allow people to correctly dispose their pills.
I never thought about how people disposed of drugs. It’s surprising to hear that people just flush them down their toilets. I now know the effects of drugs on the environment and proper ways to dispose of them so I will be implementing these methods in my house hold. Additionally, the drug take back program seems like a really nice idea because it is a way that minimizes confusion and ultimately will benefit the environment. With all the issues with pollution in our world, properly disposing of drugs will help to alleviate the dangers to our environment.
Before reading this blog, I never knew the extent to which the environment can be harmed by the irresponsible disposal of medication. According to the FDA, most medicines are safe to also be thrown away in the household trash. Along with water treatment systems to filter out drugs, I think the main way we can keep water uncontaminated is by spreading awareness about effects of irresponsible disposal. For example, posters can be put up to inform others about the effects in public places and announcements could be held during commercial breaks, etc. These measures can cause more people lean away from flushing medication down the toilet. In addition, increased announcements about the drug take-back program can promote more people to choose this option. The DEA could also increase the amount of times per year that they hold a National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
I think one of the most effective ways to properly dispose of medications is drug take backs. Though I haven't personally participated, I know my mom usually turns in our expired medications at the take backs. It's been taught to me that the proper way to dispose of old medication is to turn them in at the collection programs, so I've never really thought of the kiosks at pharmacies. I think this is also an effective solution because it isn't just a one-day event. However, some drugs can't be turned in to the kiosks, so it might not be the best option for everyone. Overall, I think that the proper methods of medication disposal that are available are fairly accessible and effective.
Kiosks at pharmacies is an idea that I have never really heard of until this article. This makes it very convenient to dispose of medicine for the general public. After watching Dark Waters, I am wary of the ability of medications to leak into the water system and hurt the environment in a variety of ways. These man-made chemicals could easily find their way into animals and plants, bio-accumulating and becoming dangerous. One of the main problems is the percent of the population that continue to throw away medication, without realizing the effects. The government and pharmaceutical companies must actively work in increasing awareness of this fact. The drug-take back program that you mentioned seems like a great solution to making the disposal of medication more convenient. In Flower Mound, I also remember hearing about a medication disposal day, though I never thought much of it at the time.
I think there should be research programs on processes to filter out drugs in the water supply because I feel like drug-contaminated water is a serious issue and most likely will inhibit the lifestyles of a significant portion of our population. I never flushed medication down the toilet because my dad (who is a doctor) and my mother (who is a pharmacist) have a safe drug disposal method that is carried out in their workplaces. We have no leftover pill bottles sitting around our house right now because of this perk that comes with my parents’ jobs. However, I do feel like there are still a lot of people out there who don’t bother disposing medication the proper way (because they will claim to be too lazy to drive all the way to a nearby location with a drug collection kiosk). I’m not sure how this can be addressed, but I think this message of the dangers behind improper medication disposal should be spread since this knowledge will help many others make the right decisions. For instance, when doctors prescribe medication, they should also highlight on proper medication disposal methods to the patients. Hopefully in the future, these solution methods will add up and help protect our environment!
Before reading this, I had never thought about how drugs are disposed of and had no idea how much damage they could do to the environment. I think many people simply aren't aware of the effects that irresponsible disposal can have. The drug take-backs and kiosks sound like a great idea, and should definitely be more widespread. People would probably be happy to do something good with old medications they don't even use.
Wow, I had no idea people were flushing drugs down the toilet. I always expected people to dispose of them “normally”, such as using a trash can. The most efficient idea for disposing drugs would be to create as many drug collection kiosks. However, considering people have problems with simply recycling correctly, this may be an issue. By educating people on the harmful effects of disposed drugs, they will likely gradually switch to more environmentally-friendly methods of disposal. Personally, I haven’t flushed any medication down the toilet. I’ve only thrown them away in the trash.
I had no prior knowledge of this issue and to be honest, I do not think very carefully about how I discard my waste apart from discerning what can be recycled. In order to fix this, we must educate the public on the issue and ensure people have access to acceptable places to dispose of waste.
I think the safest way to implement drugs is to set up facilities where extremely addictive drugs can be used, in proper dosages, and then safely disposed of. This would help people slowly ease their addictions while ensuring that there aren't needles and syringes in public places where they can scratch people. My parents are pretty good about disposing of extra medication, but we do have a lot of leftover pill bottles in our medicine cabinet.
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