The Great Neck Water Pollution Control District encourages all Town of North Hempstead residents to utilize the District’s free medication disposal drive-thru on Sunday, June 3—open from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
The pharmaceutical drop off event will be held at District headquarters at 236 East Shore Road and is hosted in partnership with Reach Out America, the Great Neck Breast Cancer Coalition, North Shore Action, the Nassau County Police Department, Northwell Health and the Boy Scouts.
The District will be accepting expired and unused medications via a drive-thru process that is both quick and ensures that the pharmaceutical waste is disposed of safely.
“The Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had advised for years to discard of pharmaceuticals by flushing them down the toilet. This, however, is extremely harmful as water filtration facilities are unable to remove the chemical compounds from the water supply running through its multiple filtration systems,” said Great Neck Water Pollution Control District Commissioner Steve Reiter. “We are happy to offer local taxpayers this additional service as an easy solution to disposing pharmaceuticals in an environmentally-conscious manner.”
This will be the District’s second Shed the Meds event, expanding off its inaugural September 2017 event that successfully collected over 400 pounds of pharmaceutical waste. Visitors are directed to enter the District from the East Shore Road entrance and then exit onto Vista Hill Road following the drop off.
“It is our hope that the day’s event will not only produce pharmaceuticals that might not otherwise be disposed of properly but help raise awareness that will encourage residents to join us in protecting our environment and water supply,” stated Great Neck Water Pollution Control District Commissioner Patty Katz. “As a free service, we hope to see the Great Neck out in force as we work together to preserve and protect the local environment for future generations.”
For additional information and updates about the Great Neck Water Pollution Control District, please call our office at 516-482-0238 or visit our website at www.gnwpcd.net.
