Macomb, IL – A western Illinois waste management group is beginning a program to keep medications out of landfills and waterways.
Chad Bratz of Tri County Resource and Waste Management says his agency is doing a trial run in Warren and Mercer Counties. Then the program will be extended to McDonough County.
He says after the medication is collected, it will be incinerated.
Bratz says too often people either throw excess medication in the trash or flush it down the toilet.
He says the former can cause pollution. Flushing the medications causes the active ingredients to enter streams and rivers, because sewage treatment plants cannot remove chemicals from the water.
He says the program is being done in conjunction with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
Bratz says most of the collected medication comes from people who purchased extra and did not use it. Other sources are people who died with medication they had not taken, or medication that has gone beyond its expiration date.