The message below, contains information from the Pima County Health Department website and was submitted by the Creation Care Ministry Team, a group committed to finding meaningful ways to help our congregation care for the beautiful world God has given us. If you would like to join our team, please contact Doug Cain (520.609.1233 or cainds2@comcast.net).
Dispose-A-Med is an environmentally friendly local program that allows for free, safe disposal of unused or expired prescriptions and over-the-counter medications. The program began in 2009 as a way to minimize the abuse of prescription drugs and to prevent accidental poisonings, but its mission was quickly enlarged to prevent the pollution of the water in Tucson’s underground aquifers. Today the Dispose-A-Med program includes representation from the Pima County Health Department, UA College of Pharmacy, City of Tucson, Tucson Water, the Household Hazardous Waste Program, local law enforcement, fire departments, and other community partners.
In Pima County, there are both daily and occasional collection sites, open to all. A permanent Dispose-a-Med bin is located just down the street from TVLC, at the Pima County Sheriff’s Rincon Station, 8999 East Tanque Verde Road. The bin is accessible Monday through Friday, 8am-5pm. In addition, the 21st National Take-Back Prescription Drug Day is scheduled for October 23, with multiple locations to be announced across Pima County.
The Dispose-A-Med service is free and anonymous, with no questions asked. Prescription and over-the-counter tablets, capsules, caplets, patches, and powders are accepted for disposal, while metal or glass inhalation aerosol bottles, liquids, creams, syringes, epi-pens, and drugs from commercial organizations are not.
Drugs may be brought to the Dispose-A-Med collection site in their original bottles. At the occasional collection sites, workers can help remove labels to protect your privacy. At daily collection sites like the Sheriff’s Rincon Station, you will be asked to place all your medicines in a bag and take the prescription bottles with you.
After collection, drugs are incinerated with the help of the DEA, with no contamination of the air, soil, or water. Pill bottles are recycled or donated to Pima Animal Control for use in its spay and neuter program.
So, what do you do with items not accepted by Dispose-A-Med? Any item marked “toxic” or “poison” should be taken to a hazardous waste disposal site (for example, the Eastside City Hall collection site, open on the first Saturday morning each month.) Liquid medications should be mixed with kitty litter, coffee grounds, or soil, then placed in a plastic container, sealed with duct tape, and placed in the trash. Sharps (needles, syringes) should be dropped into a puncture-proof plastic container and sealed tightly with duct tape. Write “non-recyclable” on the container, and put the container into the trash. Never flush any medication in the toilet or down the drain!
For more information on the Dispose-A-Med program and its permanent collection sites, go online to www.disposeamed.pima.gov or call 520.724.7911.
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