Pharmaceuticals

Unwanted and outdated pharmaceuticals pose serious safety and environmental threats ranging from child poisonings, illegal use, and contamination of our streams and drinking water. Unwanted pharmaceuticals should not be poured down the sink or flushed down the toilet. Conventional wastewater treatment is not effective at eliminating the majority of pharmaceutical compounds, whether passed through the body or flushed down the toilet as a disposal technique. As a result, pharmaceuticals are now found at very low levels in surface waters, streams, septic tanks, tap water and waste water effluent.  These levels are unable to induce acute effects in humans as of yet, i.e., they're far below the recommended prescription dose, but have been found to affect aquatic ecosystems.

Snohomish County is working with other interested parties to develop a program whereby drug companies provide a collection program for unwanted pharmaceuticals from residential sources. This may require legislation, and the program is not in place at this time.

However, some local pharmacies and clinics are stepping up to the plate to help solve this problem, in conjunction with Snohomish County and other partners. A pilot program has been established at limited locations, including Group Health clinics that have pharmacies, to accept unwanted medications from residents.

For collection locations and information on what materials are and are not accepted, please go to www.medicinereturn.com.

If the limited locations operating in the pilot do not meet your needs, and until a manufacturer provided take-back program is provided, please carefully prepare your unwanted pharmaceuticals and dispose of them in the garbage. It is recognized that there is concern that this method could potentially allow inadvertent access of the drugs to children and/or animals during the disposal process. This access potential can be minimized by following a few simple steps:

• Keep the pharmaceuticals in their original container since the labels may contain safety information, the container is chemically compatible, and the caps are typically water tight and child-proof.
• Add a small amount of water to solid drugs (like pills) or some absorbent material such as kitty litter, sawdust, soil or flour to liquid drugs before recapping. These measures are intended to discourage any unintended use of the drug.

Wrap the drugs in a sheet of newspaper and enclose in a small bag or other container before placing in the garbage. This prevents immediate identification of a drug container or prevents a glass drug container from breaking during the disposal process, e.g. when a plastic garbage bag tears, tipped trash can, etc.