Anyone wishing to get rid of expired or unused medication can bring it for safe disposal to a collection event on Saturday, June 8th. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Covenant Senior Health at Fort Sanders West (220 Fort Sanders West Blvd., Building 2).
Besides unwanted and outdated prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines, residents can also dispose of used mercury thermometers.
A free digital thermometer will be given in exchange for every mercury thermometer turned in while supplies last.
Members of the Knoxville Medication Collection Program will be on hand.
The empty plastic containers for the medicines will be recycled if left with the event organizers.
More information can be found at
http://www.medicationcollection.org.
The event is sponsored by: The Knoxville Police Department, City and County Solid Waste Offices, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Covenant Senior Health, UT Academy of Student Pharmacists, WUOT, Hallsdale-Powell Utility District, the Metropolitan Drug Commission, KUB, WBIR Channel 10, Fort Sanders, Calhoun's and the Knox County Health Department
If you can't make it to the collection event, old or unused medicines can be brought at any time to the Knoxville Police Department Safety Building at 800 Howard Baker Jr. Ave. The Safety Building is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
About the Knoxville Medication Collection Program
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation announced on April 28, 2010, that the Knox-Area Medication Collection Program had received a Governor's Environmental Stewardship Award for its role in keeping medication out of local waters and landfills, and for making the community a safer place by collecting expired and unwanted prescriptions. Since the program began in 2008, more than 7,800 pounds (nearly 4 tons) of medication have been collected through a combination of unwanted medicine collection events and the installation of a permanent drop box at the KPD's downtown station. The program has become a model for other municipalities in the State of Tennessee, several of which will be directly modeling the successes achieved by the Knox-Area Medication Collection Program to set up their own localized programs.