Tennessee American Water and Hamilton County Coalition Organize Collaborative Drug Take Back Event
In a joint announcement on Earth Day, Tennessee American Water and the Hamilton County Coalition revealed their plans to participate in the upcoming U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take Back Day slated for Saturday, April 27, 2024. The initiative is set to run between 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET, with customers and local residents encouraged to utilize approved regional collection sites for the correct disposal of unwanted medications.
Dispose Pharmaceuticals Properly
The Drug Take Back event promotes the environmental-friendly and safe measure of incinerating unused or expired medications, as recommended by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The collection drive explicitly discourages the practice of flushing medicines down the toilet or throwing them into trash cans, given their potential environmental impact.
Lori Stenzel, Manager of Water Quality and Environmental Compliance at Tennessee American Water, expressed the relevance of this sight in a statement, “Drug Take Back encourages residents to remove unneeded medications from their homes in a safe and eco-friendly manner. Participation in this event is one way we can all help protect our environment and waterways and make Earth Day every day.”
Promoting Environment Protection and Drug Misuse Prevention
Committed to preserving the cleanliness and safety of local waterways, Tennessee American Water has pledged to strengthen its collaboration with the Hamilton County Coalition and other local agencies to broaden public awareness on the proper disposal of medications. The joint initiative also seeks to mitigate the risk of drug misuse, ensuing from the presence of unneeded medications in homes.
Residents can avail of this free and anonymous service by dropping their unrequired medications at one of the 14 collection centers dispersed throughout the area this Saturday. Certain locations will also offer complimentary shredding services for personal documents.
Raising Awareness for Proper Drug Disposal
Camilla Bibbs, the Executive Director of the Hamilton County Coalition, extended her optimism about this community program, acknowledging their synergistic efforts with law enforcement agencies and multiple local partners. “We work to raise awareness of proper disposal of medications in homes to reduce potential abuse,” she stated.
An array of regional Drug Take Back Day collection locales can be found on the official Hamilton County Coalition website. The participating regional counties include Hamilton, Sequatchie, Rhea, and Grundy. They will host their drug take-back events between 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time for all central time zone counties.
Notably, free shredding services are available at Walgreens on Gunbarrel Road, Mount Canaan Church on Highway 58, and the City of Chattanooga’s Avondale Community Center at 1305 Dodson Avenue.
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