Erie, PA residents dropped off about 600 pounds of medicine and personal care products on April 26, 2008 at the Cruise Boat Terminal Building during the Pennsylvania Sea Grant pharmaceutical collection.
Located behind the Dr. Raymond Blasco Memorial Library the collection brought in over 73,000 pills and a lots of controlled substances like narcotic pain medication, said Sara Grisè, PA Sea Grant coastal outreach specialist.
Results::
87 participants
120 gallons of materials
5 of the 120 gallons were controlled substances
About 600 pounds of medicine/personal care products
Controlled: 3,839 pills
Non-Controlled: 69,232 pills
Personal Care products: 384
The Keep Unwanted Medicine out of Lake Erie Medicine Collection Day was part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge.
The challenge involved over 100 collections across eight states. Lake Erie's reputation especially in the 1960s and 1970s was an extremely polluted and even dead lake. By all accounts, residents and officials have done a great job restoring Lake Erie - where fishing, boating and swimming are popular.
The EPA Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan helped the recovery of Lake Erie. Officials have been fighting the Zebra Muscle problem in Lake Erie.
One pharmaceutical collection goal was to prevent medicine s from being discharged into Lake Erie and make sure drugs don't end up in other lakes and streams.
Many wastewater treatment plants around the world are not designed to remove the cocktail of chemicals after the drugs are flushed or dumped down the drain - and the drugs can leach out of landfills into the groundwater.
Unsung heros at pharmaceuticals collections are police and pharmacists without whom the collections wouldn't be possible. Erie Police, pharmacists accepted pharmaceuticals.
Based on experience, organizers discovered the turnout was bigger when residents don't have to preregister. Of 87 residents participating in the collection, 61 did not preregister.
And similar to the other collections, most Erie participants were older adults as 89 percent were over the age of 46. Assisting the event was ECS & R - Environmental Coordination Services and Recycling in Cochranton, PA.
Organizers of the Erie collection included PA Sea Grant, the City of Erie, Lake Erie-Allegheny Earth Force, LECOM School of Pharmacy, and Erie Times-News in Education.
Organizers partnered with WJET-TV Erie Green Campaign.
WSEE TV provided their news story for use in this video.
The PA Sea Grant received a grant from the United States EPA (EPA). The goal of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was the collecting and recycling of one million pounds of electronics (e-Waste) plus the collection and proper disposal of one million pills. The EPA says those goals were exceeded by 400 to 500 percent.
The Earth Healing Initiative assisted some challenge organizers by offering interfaith liaisons to volunteer and encourage members of local churches and temples to participate in the Earth Day related events in their area. This video on the projects connected to the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was made possible by a grant from the US EPA in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 office, EPA Great Lakes National Program Office in Chicago and the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI.
The EHI involves American Indian tribes and a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment.
Greg Peterson, Earth Healing TV
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Sara Grisè
PA Sea Grant
814-217-9011
www.pserie.psu.edu/seagrant/seagindex.htm
EPA Region 5
www.epa.gov/region5
ECS&R
www.ecsr.net
WJET-TV
yourerie.com/content/green
WSEE TV
www.wsee.tv
Erie Times-News
www.goerie.com
City of Erie
www.ci.erie.pa.us
www.ci.erie.pa.us/Departments/PoliceDepartment/tabid/72/Default.aspx
Lake Erie-Allegheny Earth Force
www.earthforce.org/section/offices/lea
LECOM school of Pharmacy
www.lecom.edu/school_pharmacy.php
Photos by Pat Noble,WikiProject Erie
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pnoble805
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie
Jim's Photos Unixdoctor
www.unixdoctor.com/gallery/albums.php
Lake Erie map graphic Lawrence W. Ellerbruch, NMU
www.ellerbruch.nmu.edu/classes/cs255f03/cs255students/ateraves/P6/tutorial2.html
Environment Canada
www.ec.gc.ca
Ohio EPA
www.epa.state.oh.us
EPA/Bay City Times/Great Lakes Enviro Research Lab/Zebra Mussels photo
www.epa.gov/lakeerie/index.html
www.epa.gov/grtlakes/image/viz_iss4.html
Interfaith EHI
www.EarthHealingInitiative.org
CTI
www.CedarTreeInstitute.org
Earth 911:
www.earth911.org
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Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Baha'i)
Interfaith Resources/Special Ideas:
www.interfaithresources.com
800-326-1197
847-733-3559
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This is not spam. It is a site with a video presentation about this topic and an invention that assists incollection and transportation of unused and expired medications for the purposes of incineration.
galego4 3 years ago