Saturday is National Drug Take Back Day, an initiative to help people safely dispose of unneeded medications, with collection sites planned in East Hampton and Southampton Towns.
Residents can take potentially dangerous, expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs to a drop box in the parking lot of East Hampton Town Hall from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday. There will be a similar collection box during the same hours at the Southampton Town Police Department substation in the Bridgehampton Commons.
Labels and pills do not have to be removed from containers. The service is free and anonymous, and all forms of medication will be accepted with the exception of liquid medications, syringes, and business or professional waste.
An April event in East Hampton saw the collection and disposal of around 50 pounds of unneeded medications. A total of 500 pounds has been collected since 2014.
Medicine should not be thrown in the trash or flushed down the toilet. Proper disposal reduces the risk of prescription drugs entering the water supply or potentially harming aquatic life, according to a statement issued by East Hampton Town on Monday. "This initiative provides a safe, convenient, and environmentally responsible way for town residents to properly dispose of their unwanted medications," the town said.
Unused and expired medications can also be taken to several locations for safe disposal year round. They are the town's police headquarters in Wainscott and its Montauk precinct, East Hampton Village police headquarters, the town's senior citizens center in East Hampton, and White's Apothecary on Main Street in the village.
