On April 24, National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, Westchester County’s Department of Environmental Facilities, DEF, will provide residents with the opportunity to dispose of prescription and over-the-counter medications at the Household Hazardous-Material Recovery Facility, H-MRF, in Valhalla by appointment from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Residents must wear masks and can drive through and drop off their medications, which should be in their original containers, if possible, or placed inside sealed plastic bags. The H-MRF is located on the county’s Valhalla Campus at 15 Woods Road in Valhalla.
Safely disposing of unused or expired pills, liquid medications and ointments keeps them from being misused and keeps people and pets safe from accidental poisoning. To protect our drinking water, rivers, streams and aquatic life, never flush medications.
Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows year after year,
that the majority of misused and abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including someone else’s medication
being stolen from a home medicine cabinet.
In 2020, DEF collected and safely disposed of 5,954 pounds of prescription and over-thecounter medications through collection events at the H-MRF. Last fall, Americans turned in nearly 493 tons (985,392 pounds) of unused or expired prescription drugs and vape devices at nearly 4,600 sites operated by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, USDEA, and nearly 4,200 of its state and local law enforcement partners. Overall, since 2010, USDEA and its partners have taken in nearly 13.7 million pounds of pills and liquid medicine.
Residents who cannot make it to the DEF event on April 24 can safely dispose of their unwanted medications at many convenient police department drop-off locations throughout the year. Additionally, DEF accepts medications by appointment on the first Tuesday of each month at the H-MRF. For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit https://environment.westchestergov.com/facilities/h-mrf or contact the Recycling Help-Line at 813-5425 or 211.
The county also has installed locked and secured collection boxes at 38 police department headquarters throughout Westchester, where medications can be dropped off (most are available 24 hours a day/7 days a week). For more information, visit https://environment.westchestergov.com/residents/recycling-guidelines/medications.
(Submitted)
