Bustle Discusses Household Hazardous Waste, Drug Take Back with Clean Earth's Wade Scheel
MARCH 26, 2019
Bustle’s Brandi Neal recently spoke with Clean Earth Director of Governmental Affairs Wade Scheel about household hazardous waste best practices, as well as how Clean Earth is combatting the nation’s opioid crisis with its drug take back solutions.
“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency considers some leftover household products that can catch fire, react or explode under certain circumstances — or that are corrosive or toxic — as household hazardous waste,” Scheel tells Bustle. “Products such as paint, nail polish, batteries, electronics, hair spray, and even unused or expired medications are considered household hazardous waste and require special care during disposal.”
Scheel explains how you might be tempted to toss expired or unused drugs in the trash or flush them down the toilet. However, this means they can end up in landfills or be taken by someone without that prescription.
“You can bring unwanted pills to a retail location,” Scheel says in the piece. “Walgreens and Clean Earth [previously Stericycle Environmental Solutions] recently teamed up to install drug collection kiosks in Walgreens stores nationwide to provide a safe, convenient, and free way for consumers to return unused medication.”
In addition, you can mail them for proper disposal using Clean Earth Seal&Send Medication MailBack Envelopes. These envelopes enable consumers to safely and easily dispose their medications by filling the pre-addressed envelope with up to 8 oz. of pharmaceutical waste and placing it into any USPS mailbox. Additionally, Clean Earth Medication Collection Kiosks provide a convenient way for consumers to dispose of their unwanted or expired medications in a safe location within their communities.
Learn more about household hazardous waste and drug take back
Click here to read the piece in its entirety and learn more about the need to resolve the health and environmental hazards associated with improper pharmaceutical waste, as well as why Clean Earth is uniquely positioned to help solve this issue.