Southwick police will offer town residents an opportunity to safely and responsibly dispose of unwanted medications Saturday at the new DPW facility on College Highway.
SOUTHWICK – Town residents will again have an opportunity to safely and responsibly dispose of unneeded drugs on Saturday when the town police again participate in a national drug takeback program organized by the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
Police Chief Mark Krynicki announced recently that the police will accept prescription drugs, with no questions asked, at the town’s Department of Public Works facility at 661 College Highway from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.
All outdated or unwanted prescription medications, except liquid, aerosols, transdermal patches and sharps, will be accepted.
Kyrnicki said that over the counter drugs will also be accepted for disposal.
He pointed out that unneeded medications are often flushed down a toilet and said the collection offers a safer disposal method.
Noting that town residents rely on wells for water he said the flushed medicine “will eventually leak into the ground water.”
Kyrnicki said that, in addition to the periodic collections, town officials are working to establish a permanent collection point.
He said that Tom Fitzgerald, the town’s health inspector, is writing an application for a grant to fund a secure collection receptacle which would be erected outside the police department to allow residents to responsibly dispose of medicine at their convenience.
Westfield Police Capt. Michael McCabe said that his department, which has participated in the DEA collection program in the past, will not accept unwanted drugs this spring.
He said that he believes the city department will stage collections annually and is working to plan a disposal opportunity for city residents in October.
Elsewhere in the area, the Huntington police will collect unneeded medications at the town’s transfer station at 7 Mill Street on Saturday.
