Post Classifieds
Evergreen disposes drugs
By Shari Ingles
On May 4, 2012
Buffalo State College participated as a National Prescription Drug Drop Off location for the first
time on Saturday to help ensure that unused or expired drugs are being disposed of properly.
There were approximately 250 drop off locations in communities across New York State, open
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. to accept prescription drugs for disposal. According to the New York
State Department of Health, over 50 percent of adolescent misuses of prescription medications
originates from the home.
"We have had a really good turnout this year," said Frank Scarpinato, environmental education
specialist. "It is really nice to see the public coming out and supporting the environment and
doing the right thing disposing of prescriptions properly."
Buffalo State had 108 participants come through to drop off old prescriptions and medications,
which equaled about 241 lbs of material. In Western New York overall, there were about 4,755
participants resulting in almost 13,000 lbs of material, Scarpinato said.
Most prescription drugs are usually over-the-counter medication like Tylenol, aspirin and
vitamins that have expired, Scarpinato said. About 10 to 15 percent of drugs that are brought in
are controlled substances such as Vicodin and Codeine. There is a wide spectrum of medications
that comes in, however, and some even date back to the 1970's.
Once the drop off locations collect all of the drugs, they take them to a waste energy facility
in Niagara Falls called Covanta Energy where they incinerate them, Scarpinato said. Last year
the sites collected just short of 10 tons of material, which was enough incinerated material to
produce energy for about 1,000 homes for one day. By incinerating the drugs it will ensure the
medications never make it to the waterways.
When people do not dispose of medications properly and resort to flushing them down the toilet,
the drugs can then contaminate our waterways and become a health risk, Scarpinato said.
"Buffalo State is a great center location for North Buffalo and for the West Side," Scarpatino
said. "This way the community has a good convenient location and it is always good to work
with partners throughout the community."
There is a large consortium of people involved in this drop off day. Covanta Energy, the
department of justice, the drug enforcement administration, the pharmacy schools at D'Youville
and the University at Buffalo, Erie County department of health, Erie County department of
environmental planning, the water authority, West Herr, Kids Escaping Drugs and dozens more,
according to Scarpinato.
There are usually two days out of the year that there are major events to collect prescription
medications. Scarpinato said Erie County hosts some smaller events in the community
throughout the year as well.
Evergreen assisted with the drug drop off by hosting it to ensure that Buffalo State was doing
its part to help the environment and get rid of prescription drugs safely, said Lauren Bostaph,
Evergreen staff assistant. Evergreen is an on-campus organization dedicated to promoting
environmental consciousness.
"Prescription drug abuse is an epidemic across the country and the number-one drug problem in
Western New York," Bostaph said.
Dr. Theresa Hains, Director of the Weigel Health Center, said when her husband had passed
away two years ago, she was left with a lot of prescription drugs and was not sure how to
properly dispose of them.
"It is a tremendous relief to know that the prescriptions are disposed of properly and that it is
also good for the environment," Hains said. "It is a common problem when a loved one passes
to have a lot of prescription drugs left that are unused and it is important to get rid of them
properly."
If people cannot make these drop off events, there is another recommended way of disposing
these old prescription and medications. Scarpinato said mixing and grinding up prescriptions
with either cat litter or coffee grounds and burying them in the center of the trash will make them
less harmful as well. Still, Scarpinato said the best method possible would be to dispose these
medications at scheduled drop off events.
Shari Ingles can be reached by email at ingles.record@live.com.
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