Our summer reading program this year is dedicated to the world's oceans and water supplies. Only about 1% of the world's water is drinkable and every living being needs water. Meanwhile, the Great Lakes account for more than 22% of the world's fresh water supply. It is an incredibly valuable resource that we have been made stewards of by living in the Midwest. It's time we take a look at what we can do to keep it healthy and usable. As such, we are taking a look at some of the things we can do to help take care of our waterways. Every week this summer we will be taking a look at some of the little things we can do to keep our waters clean, healthy, and usable, maintain the ecosystem, and in general do our part to take care of our planet. Let's take a look:
Around the House
You've heard the phrase "Charity begins in the home?" Water conservation does as well. Our first few posts of this series deal in things you can do around the house. We'll look at some easy changes you can put into effect that can have a significant impact on the quality of our drinking water and waterways.
#2 - Properly Dispose of Prescription Drugs
Okay, so in the last post we looked at how to be better stewards of our waters by being responsible in the kitchen and laundry. But more hazards for the environment exist in the house than just the soaps and detergents. Another important pollutant to be mindful of is medication. Before we start off, I will warn you this might be a bit of a downer post. Luckily we can work towards fixing the issues and creating a healthier and less medicated environment.
We have all heard the dangers of children and teens getting into those old, outdated prescription bottles or the hazards of ingesting expired medications. While having medication where children and teens can get at them can lead to drug addictions, that is the more visible danger. The unseen one might just be more insidious. If you don't dispose of unused medications properly, a.k.a. you flush hazardous materials down the toilet or sink, or toss it in the trash, you could be contaminating drinking and ground water, poisoning humans, animals, plants, anything that comes in contact with those substances, affecting both health and behavior and causing long-lasting, possibly deadly, changes.
Effects of Pharmaceutical Pollution
These can range from chemical sexual reassignment (a major increase in the number of intersex fish and frogs is usually found among the worst polluted waterways heavy in birth-
control substances) to changed behavior (try telling a starling high on antidepressants that they actually have to eat) to localized near extinctions (apparently the anti-inflammatories given to cattle in India have nearly wiped out the local vulture populations and birth control in streams that once held fathead minnows decimated their numbers). And it can then affect creatures that haven't necessarily come in contact with the substances but are affected by those creatures that have. For instance, in areas where the above-mentioned minnows were decimated, trout lost their primary prey and started dying out while the insect populations the minnows used to feed on lost their primary predator and started to overwhelm the area.
The EPA, among others, has some suggested ways to ensure that your old medications aren't contributing to the growing global pharmaceutical pollution problem. If the medication in question (over-the-counter or otherwise) specifically states on the packaging that you can or should flush unused quantities down, you're good. If not, you are going to have to do a little legwork (including removing any identifying personal information from any tossed Rx container).
What Can I Do?
Your first and safest bet is to contact your local health department and ask if they have an upcoming Drug Take Back Days event or where the nearest hazardous waste disposal site is. Going with professionals to dispose of your no longer used or expired medications means that they can do the heavy lifting. They know how to get rid of the medications safely and efficiently and you don't have to worry about any of it.
Your second choice is to dispose of it yourself by following the following steps:
Remove medications from their original containers.
Mix with undesirable substances (i.e.cat litter, coffee grounds, saw dust, etc.) to deter children and animals from ingesting
Put the mixture into a sealed disposable container (i.e. margarine tub or sealable bag) to prevent it from leaking into the groundwater
Conceal or remove any personal information including Rx number (i.e. with permanent marker, duct tape, scratching it off, etc.)
Finally, you are ready to put it into the trash.