Three Tons of Unused Medicine Collected, Destroyed

Three tons of unused medications will soon be incinerated, keeping them off the streets and out of waterways following the seventh annual Medicine Collection Day at Miller Park on April 28.

The event, held in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, drew 970 people who turned in 3,443 pounds of unused prescription and over-the-counter medications directly at the four-hour Miller Park collection.

The remaining 2,670 pounds came from residents who turned in unused meds at police departments prior to Medicine Collection Day. Sixteen police departments in Milwaukee County, including Greenfield's, are participating in a program that .

The others are: Bayside, Brown Deer, Cudahy, Fox Point, Franklin, Greendale, Oak Creek, River Hills, Shorewood, South Milwaukee, St. Francis, Wauwatosa, West Allis, West Milwaukee and Whitefish Bay.

Medicine Collection Day started in 2006, collecting more than 17.9 tons of unused medications to date.

The Milwaukee Police Department provided officers at Miller Park to supervise the collection and to make sure guidelines were followed for handling certain kinds of pharmaceuticals. Volunteer pharmacists from Aurora Pharmacy helped sort the tons of medications turned in at the collection.