You might overlook them on your bathroom shelf, but it’s critically important to dispose of the medications in your home that are expired or unused. It’ll help keep you and your household safe.

It’s a familiar sight for many of us: A bottle of expired prescription medication in the bathroom cupboard. A half-full tube of medicated cream in the bedroom closet. An old inhaler in your bedside drawer. Disposing of unused pills, ointments, patches, and other medications keeps everyone in our community safer.

When medications aren’t stored in a secure place or disposed of, they can fall into the hands of kids, pets, or others who shouldn’t be using them. That can lead to drug misuse or accidental poisonings.

Disposal is even more important for prescription opioids.

We know fatal opioid overdoses are increasing in our community. Between 2018 and 2022, Eau Claire County lost 82 residents to drug overdoses. About three-quarters of those deaths were opioid-related.

Around 70% of people who misuse prescription pain medications get them from a friend or family member. According to a large-scale youth survey, 8% of Eau Claire County high school students say they’ve misused a prescription pain medication before, and 5% of county high school students say they’ve misused a prescription drug in the past 30 days.

Don’t flush your old medications or pour them down the drain! They can leach into the ground and seep into our groundwater.

This is where the Drug Take-Back Day event on Saturday, April 27 comes in. Each spring and fall, the Eau Claire City-County Health Department and local law enforcement agencies hold drug take-back days. On those days, anyone can drop off their expired or unwanted medications at certain locations in Eau Claire County for free. Both prescription and over-the-counter medications are accepted.

All you need to do is remove or cover up any personal information on the prescription label, then drop your medication off at the Altoona Emergency Services Building (1904 Spooner Ave.) or at the Eau Claire County Government Center (721 Oxford Ave., Eau Claire) on Saturday, April 27, between 10am and 2pm.

If you’re dropping off at the Eau Claire County Government Center, you don’t even need to get out of your car. Just pull up next to the Take-Back Day signs and roll down your car window – our volunteers will take it from there.

Here’s what we can accept on Saturday, April 27: medications, pills, ointments, patches, non-aerosol sprays, inhalers, creams, vials, and pet medications. (Unfortunately, we can’t accept medical sharps like needles, syringes, lancets, or EpiPens at these locations – visit the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources’ website here for information on how to dispose of medical sharps.)

Can’t make it on April 27? Don’t flush your old medications or pour them down the drain! They can leach into the ground and seep into our groundwater. Water reclamation facilities aren’t designed to remove all these substances, and trace amounts of medications are showing up in rivers and lakes around the world.