Kane County seeks easier ways to dispose of prescription drugs

Batavia resident Tom Van Cleave recently picked up his telephone and called a local chain pharmacy to ask how he can best dispose of "quite a bit" of leftover prescription pain medication from past surgery. He was told to flush it down the drain.

In retelling that story as the chairman of the Kane County Board's Energy and Environmental Committee, Van Cleave shook his head in shock and disdain. As he already knew, and as county staff confirmed for him, flushing prescription drugs down the drain or toilet virtually guarantees that those drugs will end up contaminating local water sources.

The best thing anyone can do to dispose of old medications is to take it to a hazardous waste disposal outlet and have it vaporized. The second best thing to do is toss it in the trash. That means the drugs will end up in a local landfill, county staff said, but it's a better option that putting into the local water and irrigation supply.

County staff told Van Cleave that it's been a struggle to find outlets that are willing to be a prescription drug disposal drop-off site, particularly in the realm of some of the obvious places like pharmacy chains and local hospitals. Staff said those outlets generally want no part of being a drop-off site because of the legal liabilities involved with those outlets transporting the unwanted drugs to a disposal site for vaporization. Provena St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin is one of the most recent examples of places to reject the idea of being a drug drop-off site.

"If those drugs were to disappear in transport rather than make it to the disposal site, who would know the difference?" Van Cleave reasoned. He suggested the county talk with local police departments about becoming drug drop-off sites instead.