ARCHS: RxMEDS |
ARCHS' RxMEDS Community Partnership will provide Greater St. Louis area residents with a safe way to dispose of unwanted medicine as well as help protect the environment.
-St. Louis Post- Dispatch Story
Bring your unwanted medicines to selected Schnucks RxMEDS: 314-289-5629 or rxmeds@stlarchs.org. ARCHS invites you to get the New Year off to a clean start by participating in a medicine disposal program. We are proud to partner in this program called RxMEDS -- “Regional eXcess Medication Disposal Service”. Here are three simple steps that you should take to protect yourself, your families, pets, community and the environment: 1. BRING MEDICINES TO RxMEDS SCHNUCKS DISPOSAL SITES:
Schnucks Pharmacies Participating in RXMEDS: Jan-Dec. 2008 Schnucks: The 2nd Thursday of the Month - 10:00 a.m. till 1:00 p.m.
Schnucks: The 4th Thursday of the Month - 10:00 a.m. till 1:00 p.m.
2. DISPOSE OF MEDICINES AT HOME: DO NOT FLUSH!
2. VOLUNTEER TO BE A RxMEDS GREETER AT SCHNUCKS:
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states, “Safe methods of disposal are needed for expired or unwanted medicines. Products of concern include prescription and over-the-counter medications. Improper disposal of medicines presents both a public safety and environmental hazard and wastes millions of health care dollars annually.” RXMEDS Background: In 2007, ARCHS was awarded a $150,570 grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to help area residents safely dispose of unused over the counter or prescription medicines. The grant will fund ARCHS’ Regional Excess Medication Disposal Service Partnership (RxMEDS) that will focus on educating the Greater St. Louis community about the dangers related to the disposal of unused medicine in the trash or the water system. RxMEDS will provide drop off sites for these medicines. This is the first partnership of its kind in the State of Missouri and only one of two funded nationally by the EPA this year. ARCHS serves as the grant’s fiscal agent and managing partner. ARCHS’ RxMeds Community Partners:
Medications collected by Schnucks will be incinerated and plastic bottles will be recycled through the Cintas Corporation. Data collected will provide the EPA with research on the types of medicine turned in (including Methamphetamine related drugs) and the common ways people dispose of medicine. Students from the St. Louis College of Pharmacy will assist in the data collection and analysis. The grant will also fund educational programs and workshops about the safe disposal of medicines targeting students in 20 area elementary schools and through partnering senior citizen organizations. Protecting the Environment: The Mississippi and Missouri Rivers supply water to more than 14 million people in the river basin. Among those drawing water resources from the rivers are the residents of St. Louis, Missouri and the Metro East Illinois area. St. Louis has received good marks in its traditional water treatment procedures but new challenges have arisen due to enhanced chemical identification techniques that are discovering misguided dumping of medications into these major waterways. The amount of medications going into the rivers and thus flowing past additional millions of people, who draw their water downstream, is not known. This Regional Excess Medication Disposal Service (RxMEDS) project, for the first time, will allow EPA the ability to collect data on potential medication contamination by tabulating the quantity of expired or excess medications held by a sample population. In addition the public, especially youth and senior citizens, will learn safe medicine disposal procedures, and thereby make their own homes and lives safer.
The RxMEDS’ grant area is also the region in which the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers converge. The target counties draw their water from these rivers and conversely deposit waste and chemicals into them. Limited studies have been done in the region but reports from conservationists indicate that the Mississippi River watershed may have a problem with “endocrine disruptors’ that have a tendency to disrupt an organ’s chemical balance. Water contaminants have increasingly become a worldwide issue in the past decade, identified as the cause for problems in all species. “Although scientists say the research is in its infancy, they have identified a large array of pollutants that might affect animals.…” Fahrenthold, D.A. (2006, September 6). Potomac’s “Intersex” fish raise pollution fears,The Washington Post, p. A01. RxMEDS: 314-289-5629 or rxmeds@stlarchs.org.
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Let's Partner:
© ARCHS 539 N. Grand Ave. St. Louis, MO 63103
314-534-0022 phone and 314-534-0055 fax
info@stlarchs.org