Got old meds? Medication disposal is becoming easier — JournalTimes.com
A Houston-based company, Sharps Compliance, aims to make it easier for Americans to dispose of unwanted medications — 200 million pounds of which are estimated to be improperly disposed of every year.
Consumers can purchase Sharps’ postage-paid envelopes at Walgreens, CVS/pharmacy, Rite Aid, and Kroger stores, among other outlets, to mail in non-controlled substances.
“This addresses a problem we’ve had for years,” David Tusa, president and CEO of Sharps, said. “Meds remain in the medicine cabinet and then people or children accidentally overdose, or people flush them and they work their way into the water systems. It’s estimated that 35 to 40 percent of medicines go unused in any given year.”
Sharps’ envelopes go to a disposal company in Texas that … burns the medicines. The ash in Texas is then repurposed into concrete and used to create roads.
An alternative: Consumers in the U.S. can, on a designated day (most recently April 30, 2011), drop off medications at locations participating in the Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
(photo via Walgreens)
