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FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
October 13, 2006
CONTACTS:
Eva Dale or Suellen Mele
Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation, 206-441-1790
What
to Do with Unwanted Medicines?
Survey finds that pharmacies would be the most convenient drop-off locations
Seattle, Washington – A telephone survey of Seattle
area residents found that 72% of households dispose of unwanted medicines in
their garbage or by flushing them down their toilets or sinks.
The survey, released by Washington Citizens for Resource
Conservation, was prompted by a growing awareness that pharmaceuticals are
detectable at low but environmentally significant levels in streams, lakes
and other surface waters that flow into Puget Sound.
Medicines enter the environment through several different pathways,
including direct disposal to sewers or landfills.
The survey also found that only one in three (33%)
Seattle area residents are actively using or planning to use all the
medicines they have in their households in the next six months. Three-quarters (74%) of the respondents said they would be
willing to properly dispose of their unused or expired medicines by
returning them to a convenient location.
Local pharmacies were chosen as the most convenient location to
dispose of unwanted medicines by 84 percent of the respondents.
Four in five (80%) respondents stated that they are likely to return
their unwanted medicines to their local pharmacy if a secure drop box were
set up there for this purpose.
Washington Citizens for Resource Conservation (WCRC) is
working with a coalition of government and private sector partners to
develop a pilot project to provide drop off options for unwanted household
medicines at select participating pharmacies in Washington State. “We want to make unwanted pharmaceuticals as easy to return
as they are to purchase,” said Eva Dale, Project Manager for WCRC.
“Based on the results of the survey, we expect a high level of
participation by residents once the pilot is launched.”
The goal of the upcoming pilot project is to decrease
unwanted household medicines entering our surface waters through improper
disposal. Scientists are
beginning to link pharmaceutical contaminants in surface waters to
biological effects on the endocrine systems of hundreds of freshwater,
estuarine and marine species.
The WCRC survey of King County residents was conducted using SoundStatsTM, a monthly omnibus survey fielded by Northwest Research Group. Additional detail is provided in the survey highlights and survey findings.
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Washington
Citizens for Resource Conservation is a nonprofit advocacy group working to
keep Washington a leader in waste reduction and recycling.
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info@wastenotwashington.org