Duluth, Minnesota: Medicine Cabinet Clean-Out Day
The EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge is underway with about 40 projects in hundreds of communities across eight states including Duluth, Minnesota
In Duluth, "Medicine Cabinet Clean-Out Day" offers residents free, safe disposal of unwanted medications.
The Earth Healing Initiative has put our local interfaith liaison in touch with Duluth officials.
He's Rev. Doug Paulson - a campus pastor at the University of Minnesota - Lutheran Campus Ministry.
"Medicine Cabinet Clean-Out Day" in the Duluth, Minnesota area is April 26.
The drive-thru event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD) HHW Facility (2626 Courtland St.) in Duluth.
Gina Temple-Rhodes, the district's environmental program coordinator, said "residents should bring medications in their original containers.
Temple-Rhodes added that mercury thermometers and medical sharps - that are packaged safely in rigid containers - will also be accepted free of charge."
Two previous collections included Minnesota's first-ever medication collection in October 2007.
The Western Lake Superior Sanitary District "collected a total of 591 pounds of unwanted pharmaceuticals from 391 households, enough to fill 6 55-gallon drums," Temple-Rhodes said.
The district's event coordinator - Susie Darley-Hill - said "medication is only accepted during special events due to U.S. drug laws."
She said "if medication must be disposed of during other times, it can be destroyed, sealed and placed in the garbage."
District environmental program coordinator Gina Temple-Rhodes said "the first collection event really showed us that there is a lot of unwanted medication lingering in medicine cabinets all over the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District area."
She said "residents told us they had been storing the medications for years because they didn't know what else to do with them. This collection event offers an easy, safe answer to the disposal question."
Western Lake Superior Sanitary District Executive Director Kurt Soderberg said "unwanted medication should not be flushed or poured down the drain."
Soderberg said "although many of us were taught to dispose of medicines this way, we now know that flushing them is not a good idea."
Soderberg added that "wastewater treatment plants were not designed to remove pharmaceutical substances from wastewater - Proper disposal of medication helps protect water quality in our region."
The Duluth event is one of 37 projects involving hundreds of communities across eight states around the Great Lakes basin that are participating in an Earth Day 2008 challenge from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The goal of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day is collecting and recycling one million pounds of electronics (e-Waste) and the collection of one million pills for proper disposal.
The Earth Healing initiative is assisting by offering interfaith liasons to volunteer and encouraging members of local churches and temples to participate in the Earth Day related events in their area.
The Earth Healing initiative is also offering media services like this video.
Greg Peterson
Earth Healing Initiative TV
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Western Lake Superior Sanitary District (WLSSD):
http://www.wlssd.duluth.mn.us
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Earth Healing Initiative Duluth interfaith liaison:
Rev. Doug Paulson, campus pastor
University of Minnesota - Duluth Lutheran Campus Ministry (ELCA Northeast Minnesota Synod)
email:
lcammin@d.umn.edu
218-728-1124 office
University of Minnesota Lutheran Campus Ministry
P.O. Box 3649
Duluth, MN
55803-3649
UM LCM Website:
http://www.d.umn.edu/lcm/index.html
Pastor Paulson page:
Anchored in Christ's love, Lutheran Campus Ministry is an open, welcoming and caring community:
http://www.d.umn.edu/lcm/doug.html
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Arrowhead Interfaith Council (AIC)
102 W. 2nd Street
Duluth, MN
55802
Arrowhead Interfaith Council (AIC) website
http://www.arrowheadinterfaith.org/home.html
AIC members page:
http://www.arrowheadinterfaith.org/members.html
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AIC President
Erik Nordgren, AIC President
218-525-3136
president@arrowheadinterfaith.org
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AIC Interfaith Committee
"The Interfaith Committee plans events which foster interfaith dialogue and learning"
AIC Interfaith Committee Chair
JoAnn Chesser
218-728-1516
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