Momentum on Medicines–Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Art: Oliver Uberti, National Geographic Staff. Photo: Rebecca Hale, National Geographic Staff. Source: Alejandro Ramirez, Baylor University.

For Earth Week 2010, we’re focusing on some positive developments related to clean and healthy rivers.

Hip!  In August of 2009, Governor Quinn signed two bills into law that establish the first state-led requirements for the proper disposal of unused medicines. One law clarifies what it is to have “proper” disposal and outlines safe collection standards. The other law will take a major step toward incorporating good disposal practices into the healthcare industry. Under this law, home medical workers are required to dispose of unused medicines at collection points, rather than the former practice of flushing them down the toilets.

Hip!  High School students in Illinois are learning about water pollution and the proper disposal of medicines through a service-learning curriculum. “The new curriculum collection gives educators an instructional tool to create an innovative service-learning experience for their students, while tackling an important environmental and human health concern,”
said IISG Associate Director for Education _Robin Goettel_
<http://www.iiseagrant.org/staff/goettel.html>, who, along with _Terri
Hallesy_ <http://www.iiseagrant.org/staff/hallesy.html>, IISG education specialist, helped design this resource. “Through involvement in this project, students serve as agents for change, educating their communities about action steps they can take to reduce harm to aquatic
ecosystems from improper disposal of unwanted medicines.”

Hooray! Central Illinois-based Carle Clinic pharmacies opened up permanent medicine collection drop boxes at two of their pharmacies in Champaign and Urbana. We hope to see more!

Norms and laws about medicine disposal are changing. You can expect to see many more communities and businesses follow suit in the coming years. For more information, see our related web pages on this topic.