Full Notification

NEWS RELEASE

PRESCRIPTION DRUG TAKE BACK DAY COMING TO SUN PRAIRIE OCTOBER 17

The City of Sun Prairie, in cooperation with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, will coordinate a Prescription Drug Take Back initiative on Saturday, October 17, 2015 at 300 East Main Street. The City of Sun Prairie has a permanent Med Drop box that is open to the public 24 hours a day/7 days a week for citizens to dispose of unused or expired medicine. This Med Drop box is located inside the City Hall near the Police Department entrance.

This effort will continue to bring focus to the issue of prescription opiate abuse. The goal of the Take Back Day is to provide a safe, convenient and responsible means of disposal, while also educating the community about the potential for abuse of these medications.

Unused or expired medicine should never be flushed or poured down the drain. Water reclamation facilities are not designed to remove all of them and trace amounts of pharmaceuticals are showing up in rivers and lakes around the world.

“With the opiate epidemic devastating families and communities across our state, we must work together to remove unused prescription opioids from circulation. They need to be collected and destroyed,” Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel said. “This program will also reduce the environmental hazards associated with the improper disposal of unused prescription drugs.”

GUIDELINES:

All waste pharmaceuticals must be generated by a household – no businesses are allowed.

Bring: Prescription (controlled and non-controlled) and over-the-counter medications, ointments, patches, non-aerosol sprays, creams, vials and pet medications.

Do Not Bring: Illegal drugs, needles/sharps, inhalers, aerosol cans, bio-hazardous materials (anything containing a bodily fluid or blood), personal care products (shampoo, soaps, lotions, sun screens), household hazardous waste (paint, pesticides, oil, gas), mercury thermometers.

• Participants may dispose of solid, non-liquid medication(s) by removing the medication from its container and disposing of it directly into a disposal box or into a clear sealable plastic bag. Plastic pill containers are not to be collected. Blister packages are acceptable without the medications being removed.

• Liquids will be accepted during this initiative. However, the liquids, creams and sprays must be in their original packaging and evenly distributed within the boxes of collected solid prescription medications. Liquids without the original packaging will not be accepted.

• Illicit substances such as marijuana or methamphetamine are not a part of this initiative and should not be placed in collection containers.