LiveSmart BC Community Hero
LiveSmart BC Community Hero: George Pettie
Through a provincial program that now has 94 per cent of B.C.’s pharmacies involved, it is encouraging to know that you can have your unused medications disposed of in an eco-friendly manner by returning them to the pharmacy of your choice.
The B.C. Medications Return Program (MRP) is expected to grow another 25 per cent in 2008, and for Pharmacists like George Pettie of the Fraser Lake Medicine Centre, it is through this program, that he is able to disperse of your unwanted pills safely.
No purchase is necessary at the time of your return, and by returning pills to a licensed pharmacy you can reduce
the chance of toxins infiltrating the water or landfills.
All dry medications that have reached their expiry or are not part of a patient’s daily regime, can be handed over to George to be dropped into a blue, plastic MRP container. Dry pills and the vial they were stored in will both be accepted as part of the B.C. MRP.
The return program accepted 19,995 kg of returned medications in 2006, and in 2007 they received 23,384 kg. Last year, 2,370 full containers of unwanted meds were shipped away for disposal.
