The DuPage County Health Department’s medication take-back program, known as RxBOX, recently reached a collection milestone, following the drop-off by local police departments of unwanted, expired or unused medications.
On Friday, Aug. 17, officials dropped-off 4,957 pounds of medications, bringing the total to 101,165 pounds collected (roughly the weight of 25 average passenger cars) since the program was launched in 2009.
The success of the RxBOX program is in the totals, with more than 10,000 pounds collected in 2012, and over 12,000 pounds each year since.
“This was accomplished through the partnership between residents, law enforcement and public health officials of DuPage County,” said Health Department Executive Director Karen Ayala. “We applaud the remarkable community response to RxBOX, as we work to reduce the risk of unused medication falling into the wrong hands.”
In its Framework, the DuPage County Heroin Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Taskforce identified the importance of reducing access to prescription drugs by promoting the use of safe drug-disposal through RxBOX and other drug take-back programs. The health department supports local community and pharmacy take-back programs as assisting in meeting this goal.
Using RxBOX protects the environment and reduces the possibility of medications falling into the wrong hands, which is dangerous and often tragic. The
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency arranges for the incineration of collected medicines to ensure they are not reused.
Visit dupagehealth.org/rxbox for a list and map of the 18 RxBOX locations in DuPage County, disposal instructions, and items that are not accepted.
