County and Waste Management to Hold Pharmaceutical Collection Saturday

Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks today announced that the County is partnering with Waste Management to hold a free pharmaceutical waste collection on Saturday, August 22nd, 2009 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Mill Seat Landfill in Riga.
“These free pharmaceutical waste collections show how Monroe County and its partners are working to get potentially harmful medications off of the streets and out of our landfills,” said Brooks. “We are also providing residents a chance to safely discard of any unused and expired prescription and over-the-counter medications.”
Last weekend, the County Department of Environmental Services partnered with Wegmans for a pharmaceutical collection at the Penfield Wegmans which served nearly 550 residents and collected nearly 1,700 pounds of hazardous and non-hazardous pharmaceutical waste.
No appointments are needed for the pharmaceutical waste collection at the Mill Seat Landfill. Residents are asked to black out any personal information (not the medication name or dosage) on their prescription containers.
In addition to Saturday’s pharmaceutical waste collection, there will be two others scheduled in Monroe County:

• Saturday, September 12th at the Sweden Department of Public Works
• Saturday, October 3rd at the Webster Wastewater Treatment Plant

All collections are free and open to the public. The Monroe County Sheriff’s Office and County Water Authority also participate in these collections. Waste from pharmacies, veterinary offices and pharmaceutical businesses is not accepted. Residents can call 753-7600 (option #3) for more information.
Monroe County received a 2009 U.S. EPA Environmental Quality Award for its pharmaceutical waste collection program. The County has also assisted several other communities across the state with their collections by providing a guidebook about pharmaceutical collections.