Last weekend I cleaned out the bathroom cabinets, taking out all the expired medicine, old toothbrushes, and five nose bulbs that we've somehow acquired. I went to throw everything away, but then pictured it all languishing in a landfill somewhere or floating in the ocean. So I thought I'd flush the medicine and then recycle the bottles.
But then I thought, is that even worse for the environment, to have, say, expired antibiotics in the groundwater? I asked a friend who is a water scientist of some sort what to do. Here's what she said:
The American Pharmacist Association (APhA) issued new guidelines for consumers for the disposal of medications, changing the advice of flushing expired or unused medicines, due to environmental concerns. They now suggest that the drugs be crushed or dissolved in water and mixed with kitty litter or a solid kitchen substance, placed in a sealed plastic bag and put into the trash. They also suggest removing and destroying all identifying personal information of the prescription labels, and checking for state or local programs or with area hazardous waste facilities for locations at which to deposit the disposal.
Also good to know: the Economic & Social Research Council has issued a report stating that recycling is not enough to combat the waste problem; we also need to consume less.Recycling rates have risen, and the UK is on schedule to meet EU targets, but the key to dealing with our escalating waste problem lies in changing our buying habits and our attitudes to consumption, according to the authors of a new Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) publication.
Consumption: reducing, reusing and recycling (PDF, 522Kb), which accompanied a seminar in Belfast organised jointly with the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister, Northern Ireland, says that the benefits of recycling risk being undermined by the sheer quantity of waste being generated. If household waste output continues to rise by three per cent a year, the cost to the economy will be £3.2 billion and the amount of harmful methane emissions will double by 2020.
Yikes.
9 comments:
Whoa, whoa, WHOA! You people are still using toilets? I HOPE you're only flushing once a day, right? Billions of gallons of water get wasted every day in sensless flushing. And you've given up on toilet paper, too, right? Because that stuff is why we don't have the Amazon anymore. Two words: corn cobs.
I love me some environment as much as the next guy, but grinding up your meds, mixing with kitty litter, and sealing in a bag? The bag is still going to breakdown and the meds are still going to go into the groundwater. Much better to just put the meds in the pepper grinder and within a year you will have consumed your own expired meds.
Or better yet, have an expired ground-up meds party! I'll bring the mandala template and the hookers asses!
I know, right?! I was completely shocked that that was the best solution they could come up with. Todd and I had the same thought; might as well just take expired drugs recreationally and call it a day.
Oooh! Oooh! I got it! Put the expired meds in an envelope and mail them to a random address somewhere far away from you with no return address. Now it's the recipient/Postal Service's problem. They get THEIR groundwater polluted.
Genius!
And while we're at it, no more disposable diapers choking landfills. Just slosh the feces out in the crappier and have the Dydee Diaper Man boil the nasting cloth things. But remember, only one flush a day!
And no more pharmaceuticals except ether and morphine. Bring back ether parties! Don't bogart that bottle and rag!
Wait, are you trying to say I'm going overboard with concern for the planet? Entirely possible. I'm not one for moderation.
I'm telling you what I tell the kids: you have to do what you think is right. And then appreciate the fact that everything you will ever do is completely futile. For every ton of waste you recycle, there are 3 billion Chinese waiting in line to fuck 50 tons straight INTO THE DIRT. They want the lifestyle our parents wanted in the 1950s, down to the huge cars with fins and the jetpacks and the sex androids. I don't really want to be around when Mother Nature says, "No more." Because we're going to have an ecolocataclysm that'll make Pompei look like hot mud baths in in Napa Valley with chardonnay and colonics all around.
And for brunch, they nail you to a cross made out of old dead fish and you'll have to EAT THAT OR DIE.
I used to take any leftover drugs when I was through with them immediately to the doctor who prescribed them for them to give to indigent patients.
One of the things that really horks docs off is they only have the "samples" to give their indigent patients and, as these are usually the most expensive....
Granted, all docs won't take them. (They aren't supposed to) but, if it is something I know I am not going to finish, I am very careful how I dispense the meds to myself. (Clean hands. Shake pills out into cap rather than my hand. Etc.)
I've gotten a LOT of Thank You Very Much from the docs.
The DC Free Clinic used to be a perfect place for me to drop off meds. When we discovered I was allergic to the patch glue, I gave over $3000 worth of pain patches to the free clinic. They were delighted. No one ever gives them free narcotics or pain pills. All those homeless and suffering people and no way to alleviate their pain.
I also gave the Enbral injections I had left over...again, about $3000 and those went to a family of recent immigrants to the USA who were - financially strapped. They had their doc bills covered but zippo on the pharm.
It's true. Each of us is responsible for our own choices. How perfectly existential.
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