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Wastewater treatment plants are designed to treat the dirty water that goes down our toilets and sinks, and is not intended to treat and remove medication. When medications are dissolved into wastewater, they may be unintentionally discharged back into our waterways.

GOOD TO DO

Find a Disposal Location Near You

  • The ideal way to dispose of unwanted medication is to use a medication take-back program. Contact your local pharmacy, police department or hospital to see what programs are available.
  • Permanent drug drop-off centers are located at Virginia Beach and Suffolk police precincts, at Norfolk’s Public Safety Building (811 E. City Hall Ave.), in the lobby of the Isle of Wight County Sheriff’s Department, at police headquarters in Chesapeake or you can find a DEA certified disposal location near you.
  • You can now get drug disposal bags from your local health department. The bags use carbon to deactivate the compounds in the medication making them safe for disposal in a landfill.

Safely Dispose of Medications at Home

  • Crush solid medications or dissolve them in water.
  • Mix with kitty litter, sawdust, or anything else that will make the drug unavailable or unappealing for a pet or child to eat. This also works with liquid medications.
  • Store medications in their original container. Being able to quickly identify the medication is helpful in case a child or pet accidentally ingests it.
  • Mark out all identifying personal information on the prescription label.
  • Seal the bottle with the lid.
  • Place the medicine bottle inside a non-recyclable container before placing into the trash to further disguise the medication.

medication disposal

Find the leak and fix the leak

How to save money and water

Do you know what’s flushable and what’s not?

YOU MAY BE SURPRISED…

Don’t believe the hype about the flushable wipe…

FIND OUT WHY

Remember paper, plastic bottles, metal cans...

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We live in a beautiful region surrounded by water. It impacts everything from the food we eat to the fun we have as well as our economic livelihood. Our daily actions have a lasting impact and it's up to us to protect and restore our waterways. It takes a community of individuals making small changes to make a difference. Getting involved in the Bay Star programs is one way you can be part of the effort to protect our region's most defining natural resource, water.

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