Unwanted Medications

Pictured is a bright orange drop box marked “unwanted medication collection box” that is in front of the Decatur Police Department on 3^rd Street. The Police Department is now a drop off point for any outdated or unneeded prescription or over the counter medications.

Any Adams County person wanting to get rid of medicines, whether liquid or pill form may drop them off anonymously in this box. People are asked to remove the patient name portion of the label, from the bottle. If not disposing in original container, please put pills in a zip lock bag.

People in the past have been advised to flush unwanted medicines down the toilet. After the waste water is treated, these medications then show up in rivers and streams harming our ecosystem. They can also appear in our drinking water.

Indiana’s Department of Environmental Management advises that people may dispose of unwanted medicines in the regular trash if they first put pills in vinegar and let them dissolve. After the pills have dissolved to a sludge consistency, they should put all of the contents in a glass jar or zip lock bag, soaking up the vinegar solution in cat litter. This can then be put in the regular trash.

Whatever method is used, whether dropping them off at the Police Department drop box, or dissolving them in vinegar and disposing them in the trash, this will help to decrease the amount that ends up in our waterways. 

There was 156.20 pounds of medications collected from November 2009 through June 2010 and properly disposed of by the Police Department from this box.     

(November 2009)