Duluth, Minnesota - On the western shores of Lake Superior, "Medicine Cabinet Clean-Out Day" will be held next Saturday for residents of the Duluth area participating in the Great Lakes 2008 Earth day Challenge.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency has challenged residents in eight states across the Great Lakes basin to turn in old and unwanted pharmaceuticals plus over one million pounds of electronic waste, commonly called e-Waste that includes old and broken computers, cell phones and televisions. The EPA has award grants to some of the environment projects including Duluth.
The Duluth collection is offering residents free, safe disposal of unwanted medications thus protecting the Lake Superior watershed from the improper disposal of pharmaceuticals, organizers said.
Under an EPA grant, the new non-profit Earth Healing Initiative is coordinating interfaith participation in some of the challenge cities including Duluth.
The Earth Healing Initiative interfaith liaison in Duluth is Rev. Doug Paulson, a campus pastor for Lutheran Campus Ministry at the University of Minnesota. Paulson said he has spread the information to dozens of churches and temples with help from the Arrowhead Interfaith Council.
The drive-thru event is from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 26 at the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) Household Hazardous Waste Facility at 2626 Courtland Street in Duluth.
"Residents should bring medications in their original containers," said Gina Temple-Rhodes, WLSSD environmental program coordinator. "Mercury thermometers and medical sharps that are packaged safely in rigid containers will also be accepted free of charge."
During two previous pharmaceutical collections, the WLSSD "collected a total of 591 pounds of unwanted pharmaceuticals from 391 households, enough to fill 6 55-gallon drums," said Temple-Rhodes, adding that "Minnesota's first-ever medication collection" was held in October 2007.
"Medication is only accepted at the (WLSSD) during special events due to U.S. drug laws," said Susie Darley-Hill, WLSSD event coordinator. "If medication must be disposed of during other times, it can be destroyed, sealed and placed in the garbage."
"The first collection event really showed us that there is a lot of unwanted medication lingering in medicine cabinets all over the WLSSD area," said Temple-Rhodes. "Residents told us they had been storing the medications for years because they didn't know what else to do with them. This collection event offers an easy, safe answer to the disposal question."
"Unwanted medication should not be flushed or poured down the drain," said WLSSD Executive Director Kurt N.W. Soderberg. "Although many of us were taught to dispose of medicines this way, we now know that flushing them is not a good idea."
"Wastewater treatment plants were not designed to remove pharmaceutical substances from wastewater," Soderberg continued. "Proper disposal of medication helps protect water quality in our region."
The EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge involves about 100 projects in literally hundreds of big and small cities. Chicago, Cleveland and Fort Wayne, Indiana are among other Midwest cities holding pharmaceutical collections.
