Yellow jugs keep drugs from Great Lakes

Reports continue to show increasing traces of pharmaceuticals in the Great Lakes. Until recently, it has been commonplace to simply throw away or flush unused and unwanted drugs. The Yellow Jugs Old Drugs program offers a solution to this issue.

Wyoming to incinerate unused medicines

(MI) Grand Rapids Press – There is a new prescription for all those unused pills in the medicine cabinet: Incineration. Wyoming this fall plans to launch a medicine collection program in partnership with about 25 pharmacies in the city. The effort aims to get excess drugs beyond the reach of children and other unauthorized users without flushing them into the sewer system and, ultimately, into area drinking water. “The main thing is just getting rid of it,” said City Councilman Jack Poll, a pharmacist. “There are just a ton of prescription drugs sitting in people’s homes and, obviously, the easiest thing to do is dump them in the trash or flush them down the toilet.” More

Waste agency to restart pharmaceutical collections

(IL) Chicago Tribune – North Shore and northwest suburban residents can resume giving some old pharmaceuticals to the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County as long as those medications do not include controlled substances. SWANCC stopped collecting pharmaceuticals from member cities earlier this year after the federal Drug Enforcement Administration called its attention to a regulatory hitch: Patients cannot give controlled substances to anyone for disposal, except police departments. More