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WHAT YOU CAN GET RID OF AT MEDDROP

Prescription Medicine (pills, liquids and creams)

Over-the-Counter Medicine (pills, liquids and creams)

Medications for Pets

Nebulizer Solution

Inhales

Illegal drugs cannot be disposed of in the drop box. However, you may bring illegal drugs to the police station and turn them over to authorities, no questions asked.

DO NOT BRING

IV Bags

Oxygen Tanks

Nebulizer Machines

Thermometers

Sharps, epi pens or anything with a needle or lance

Where to take sharps, etc.

Information on safely disposing of household sharps

MedDrop is made possible thanks to generous financial support of:

Dane County
Dane County Narcotics Task Force
Dean Health Systems
Meriter Health Services
Safe Care Wisconsin/MetaStar
St. Mary's Hospital
University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation
UW Health

Thanks also to the work of MedDrop partners:

City of Fitchburg
City of Madison/Dane County
Clean Sweep
City of Madison Recycling
City of Middleton
City of Sun Prairie
Dane County Narcotics Task Force
Dane County Public Works, Highways & Transportation
Dean/St. Mary's
Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District
Madison Police Department
Meriter Health Services
Middleton Police Department Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin Pharmacies in the Dane County Area
Public Health – Madison and Dane County
Wisconsin Society of Pharmacy Students

 

MedDrop - The Best Place to Get Rid of Medicines

Unwanted, unused prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines can be found in every household in the county. We know that it’s not safe to keep unneeded medicines in the house – children and others can accidentally take them. But you’ve also heard that you shouldn’t flush medicines down the toilet or put them in the trash. We now know that these medicines are bad for our environment – our water, our lakes and the animals in them.

So... how should you get rid of your medicines?

Bring your unneeded medicine to MedDrop. This free service is available to all Wisconsin residents.

MedDrop Doubles its Drop Box Locations

4 locations now available Dane County residents now have access to two additional year-round MedDrop box sites. As of November 15, drop boxes are now available at:

The first two pilot MedDrop boxes continue to be available at: .

Poisoning deaths are now the nation's and Dane County's number one cause of injury-related death, surpassing traffic crashes When MedDrop choose Safe Communities to adopt the program it was with the vision of establishing county-wide access to drop boxes so that safe handling of medicines became routine and is not dependent upon once or twice a year events.

MedDrop boxes have been identified as a key strategy to reduce access to drugs. Our pilot boxes in Middleton and at the Madison-East precinct have proven a success collecting over 2.5 tons of medicine in just 12 months.

We are so pleased that the City of Sun Prairie and Fitchburg have joined to expand Safe Communities effort with this very vital partnership. By the end of the year we will have a network of boxes throughout the county. Sign up for an email notice of the new MedDrop boxes.

How to use MedDrop

To dispose of medications in the MedDrop drop boxes, please bring your unused or expired medication and place it in the drop box.

Empty contents of pill bottles into a zip lock bag and recycle your pill bottles at home. If you have liquids, gels or creams, please leave those in their original containers and place them in a ziplock bag as well. Then bring your medicines in ziplock bags and drop them in the drop box.

See opposite for a list of items that you can and can't dispose of at MedDrop drop boxes.

The benefits of using MedDrop

People want to get unused medicines out of the house because there is a chance that unwanted drugs may accidentally be consumed by children and others. Medications can also be scavenged from trash and sold illegally.

Current regulations do not allow people to get rid of medications in an environmentally-friendly way. MedDrop raises awareness of this problem and provides a solution for all Wisconsin residents.

Getting rid of medicines by flushing them down the toilet isn’t the answer.

More research still needs to be done to determine the effect of long-term human exposure, but the available research suggests that we need to keep medicines out of our waterways.

* The Wisconsin State Journal, “Flushed drugs polluting water,” December 10, 2006.

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last revised February 3, 2012 | © Safe Communities 2010 | site problems: send email