Cleansweep offers medication collections

Drugs are showing up in drinking water.

The environment problem stems from years of improper disposal of old medications.

The Northwest Cleansweep hazardous waste collection program, which provides collection events to 10 counties in northwestern Wisconsin, is accepting unwanted or unused medications from Wisconsin residents at its 10-county Saturday collection events this summer. A grant from the Rural Utilities Service of the Rural Development Administration, a U.S. Department of Agriculture unit makes the program possible.

The counties served include Ashland, Bayfield, Burnett, Douglas, Iron, Price, Rusk, Sawyer, Taylor and Washburn. Schedules are presently being finalized and will be available soon. All prescription collections take place at the Saturday Northwest Cleansweep hazardous waste collections in each county.

Iron County won’t host a hazardous waste collection in 2008, so a separate date for a prescription collection will be determined.

Call Rick Schneider or Jen Barton with questions at (715) 635-2197.

Tags: drugs, water, summer