Instead of harming people or the environment, medications can be disposed of at secure collection take-back bins
by Allen Pierleoni
California leads the nation in addressing issues that are vital to the public health and safety, and the environment. One crucial piece is the California Statewide Drug Take-Back Program, funded by the California Department of Health Care Services and administered by the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC), which puts safe disposal drug take-back bins in convenient locations.
The program targets the opioid crisis and the mishandling of other controlled and over-the-counter medicines. At its heart is a statewide network of take-back bins, placed in law-enforcement agencies, pharmacies and hospitals with pharmacies for public use.
Anyone can anonymously deposit unwanted medications into the take-back bins, rather than endanger the environment and possibly lives by flushing them down the toilet, throwing them in the trash or stockpiling them at home. The discarded medicines are discarded in accordance with state regulations.
“This program is encouraging because it means the other sites inside pharmacies that have secure collection programs are also being used, which saves the city money.
Alejandro Ruiz-Velasco, Environmental Services Recycling Specialist with the City of Chula Vista
“This program is encouraging because it means the other sites inside pharmacies that have secure collection programs are also being used, which saves the city money. This means we are reaching far more people throughout the city,” says Alejandro Ruiz-Velasco, Environmental Services Recycling Specialist, City of Chula Vista. “A secondary benefit is that these medications, which would otherwise end up in the trash, flushed, or misused, are being collected and properly disposed of. I am hopeful this trend will continue as we move forward.”
At the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, Flavio Alfaro, Supervisor of the Property & Evidence Unit, works to maintain 26 secure collection take-back bins inside the lobbies of the department’s stations, substations and jails throughout the county. Since the adoption of the program, it has collected “more than 128,000 pounds of miscellaneous medication for destruction” through take-back bins Alfaro says.
Feedback from the public has been “great,” Flavio says. “People are always grateful to see so many new bins close in their county. Without the bins, unwanted medicine would likely fall into the wrong hands or end up polluting our environment,” Alfaro says.
Alfaro says that unwanted medicines currently aren’t disposed of correctly when residents throw them in their trash or flush them down the toilet.
In some cases, when the elderly store and consume unwanted medicines because they were mistaken for medicines that should be consumed, they cause irreparable harm. Alfaro believes that the elderly appreciate the new secure collection take-back bins in their community and are among the most popular users of the med bins. The bins are also frequented by cautious parents concerned about their children getting access to medications.
To find a bin near you, visit medtakebackcalifornia.org.
Read more stories about med bins in San Diego County.
