Greening Austin Daily

City Council May Ask for Plan to Take Back Unused Drugs

21st September, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

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The Statesman had this article today, which says that in an effort to help prevent pharmaceuticals from being flushed into local waterways, city council may ask the city manager to set up a program under which residents could turn in unused prescription drugs:

Pharmaceuticals can enter waterways by being tossed or, after ingestion, excreted down a drain. Even though the sewage is cleaned by wastewater treatment plants before being discharged into a waterway — Austin discharges its sewage into the Colorado River — the pharmaceutical compounds are typically not screened.

A draft resolution asks the city manager to develop “an eco-friendly program that provides year-round pharmaceutical take back services easily accessible to all Austinites.”