Twelve York County police departments currently partner with the York County Solid Waste Authority to host medication take-back boxes in their police department lobbies. Together, they have safely collected and disposed of a total of more than 1.2 tons of unused and expired medications since the start of the program in November, 2012.

This partnership program provides a secure disposal option for unwanted medications from residential sources at no cost to the public or to law enforcement agencies. All York County police departments have been invited to participate.

The secure medication take-back boxes, purchased by YCSWA from MedReturn, work like a mailbox: once medications are deposited, they cannot be retrieved and are contained in a locked compartment accessible only by law enforcement.

The heavy-duty green metal box bolts to the floor and wall. Medications collected in the take-back box program are delivered by law enforcement to the Authority’s waste-to-energy facility for safe and complete destruction. Law enforcement also maintains the box and secures medications that are received until they can be destroyed.

Northern York County Regional Police Department was the first police department in York County to host a MedReturn take-back box. Says Chief Mark Bentzel: “This program enhances our ongoing efforts to eliminate drug abuse, provides a safe and convenient means of disposing of prescription and over the counter drugs and presents an opportunity to educate the general public about the potential for abuse of medications”.

The Authority’s waste-to-energy facility is equipped with state of the art combustion technology and air emission controls making it York County’s best waste management tool for destruction of unwanted or expired prescription or over-the-counter medication. The facility’s operator, Covanta York Renewable Energy, also supports this program. 

Notes Dave Vollero, Authority Executive Director, “Using waste-to-energy technology to manage medications keeps them out of landfills and waste water treatment systems. We have long advised residents to make medications unrecognizable and unpalatable and place them out with their regular garbage for delivery to our facility.

For those residents not comfortable with placing medication out at the curb, the take-back box program offers a convenient and secure option that achieves the same results: safe management, complete destruction and production of alternative energy.”

Residents interested in dropping medication at a take-back box location are advised to remove their personal information from containers before depositing them in boxes. ONLY RESIDENTIAL prescription or over-the-counter medications are accepted. Pharmacies, hospitals and other commercial sources of medications are not eligible to participate.

Syringes and other “sharps” are not accepted in this program. The public may deposit unwanted medications anonymously in the take-back boxes during lobby hours in the various locations, except on holidays.

The Authority facilitates responsible solid waste management through an integrated system that emphasizes waste reduction, reuse, recycling and resource recovery. The Authority is the owner of the York County Resource Recovery Center in Manchester Township. The Resource Recovery Center manages York County’s household and commercial waste, as well as some manufacturing waste.  

This program was developed in response to a need identified by the York-Adams Pharmaceuticals Stewardship Alliance. YAPSA is a diverse group of stakeholders from York and Adams Counties consisting of pharmacies, law enforcement, Guiding Hearts with Hope, the Watershed Alliance of York, Penn State Extension and the York County Solid Waste Authority, to name a few.

YAPSA is committed to protecting the environment and its inhabitants from the impacts of improper management of pharmaceuticals.

For more information, visit the York County Solid Waste Authority website.

(Written By: Ellen C. O’Connor, York County Solid Waste Authority, and reprinted from Penn State Extension Watershed Winds newsletter.)  

5/12/2014