SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO.com) -- The City of Sioux Falls is offering two programs to allow residents to properly dispose of medical waste to protect residents and the environment.
The Sioux Falls Police Department's "Drug Take Back" program allows citizens to drop off unused medications in a locked container in the lobby of the Law Enforcement Center, 320 West Fourth Street, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday.
Do not flush pharmaceuticals down the toilet. Waste water treatment facilities are designed to treat human waste and other easily degraded organic compounds. They cannot effectively remove pharmaceuticals and other complex, synthetic materials.
This program has taken in more than 14,200 pounds of unwanted or unnecessary pharmaceuticals since 2012.
Residents are advised to abide by the following guidelines to safely dispose of their medications:
1. Leave pharmaceuticals in the original container. Remove any personal information from the container but leave medication information clearly visible.
2. Modify the contents to discourage consumption.
A) Solid Medication - add a small amount of water to at least partially dissolve them and follow the instructions for liquids below.
B) Liquid Medication - add enough table salt, kitty litter, coffee grounds, charcoal, or non-toxic powdered spice, such as mustard seed, to make a pungent, unpleasant mixture; it should be solidified with no free liquid after mixing.
C) Blister Packs - wrap packages containing pills in multiple layers of opaque tape, like duct tape.
3. Tape the container shut with a strong adhesive, like duct tape or packaging tape. If there are no other outlets for disposing of pharmaceuticals, best practice is to place the container in with your regular household trash.
The Home Healthcare Needle Disposal Program is a offered by the Veterans Administration Medical Center, Lewis, Walgreens, and Hy-Vee Pharmacies in partnership with the City of Sioux Falls. Residents can pick up a free sharps container from participating pharmacies and return the container when it is full.
Residents in Lake, Lincoln, McCook, Minnehaha, and Turner Counties can pick up a free sharps container at any of these participating pharmacy locations:
* All Sioux Falls Hy-Vee locations.
* All Sioux Falls Lewis Drug locations, including Sanford Hospital (Medical Building 2) and Sanford Clinic (69th Street and Minnesota Avenue).
* Lewis Drug Stores in Brandon, Canton, Dell Rapids, Lennox, Madison, Tea, and Viborg.
* All Sioux Falls Walgreens locations.
The Sioux Falls VA Health Care System provides the service of transporting the filled sharps containers from the pharmacies to the Sioux Falls VA Medical Center where the needles are treated.
The program treated roughly 1,600,000 needles in 2017.
For more information about the program, visit www.siouxfalls.org/needles.