News on Behalf of Solid Waste Authority: SWA’s HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE TIP: Keep Medications and Needles Out of Recycling Bins

SWA’s HOUSEHOLD HAZARDOUS WASTE TIP: Keep Medications and Needles Out of Recycling Bins

Graphic: Attached

Video: https://youtu.be/opqsr2qsodg

If medicines help you, make sure they don’t hurt solid waste workers or our environment. Prescription medications and needles or sharps should not be thrown into garbage or recycling bins or carts. They require responsible disposal.

Palm Beach County residents can dispose of prescription medications and needles, or sharps, at many locations countywide.*

Prescription Medications

Keep prescription medicines out of the hands of strangers, away from children, and out of the water supply by taking advantage of Operation Pill Drop. This is a partnership between the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County (SWA), the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, and many local police departments.

Operation Pill Drop boxes are located throughout Palm Beach County to provide residents with easy drop off of unwanted or expired medications. Residents may also call the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office at 561-681-4460 for specific instructions. Until you’re ready to dispose of unwanted or expired prescription medications, do your part by making sure they’re secure.

Learn more about the Palm Beach County Behavioral Health Coalition’s work to keep our communities healthy, safe and drug-free on their website.

Needles

Used needles, or sharps, including syringes with needles, detached needles and disposable lancets, may carry infectious diseases. These can pose a danger to solid waste workers or anyone who accidentally comes into contact with them. The SWA does NOT accept sharps or biomedical waste through the trash, in recycling bins or at any Home Chemical & Recycling Center.

To find an appropriate needles drop-off location in Palm Beach County, call the Florida Department of Health in Palm Beach County at 561-837-5900.

Remember, pollution prevention starts at home. Visit swa.org/hcrc or call 561-697-2700 or 866-SWA-INFO (866-792-4636) to learn more about the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County’s Home Chemical & Recycling Centers.

*Businesses that generate biomedical waste are regulated by the Florida Department of Health (FDOH) and Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). The FDOH has primary authority and responsibility for facilities that generate, transport, store or treat biomedical waste through processes other than incineration. The FDEP has primary responsibility for biomedical waste incineration and final disposal.

REMINDER: Hurricane season started June 1. Hurricane season preparations can help minimize property damage and make our communities safer. Once a storm threatens, it’s too late to trim trees. So, now is the time to complete major vegetation trimming.

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About the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County

The Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County (SWA or Authority) is a Dependent Special District that was created by the Florida Legislature in 1975. Since then, the SWA has developed an award-winning integrated solid waste management system to handle the county’s waste and recyclables. We call ourselves AWAY: whether you throw it, recycle it or flush it AWAY, we put your waste to work. Each year, we:

• Process 100,000 tons of recyclables
• Combust approximately 1.8 million tons of trash to generate electricity at renewable energy facilities
• Produce enough electricity to power approximately 90,000 homes
• Recycle more than 130,000 tons of wastewater treatment residuals (sludge from flushes) into an environmentally-friendly fertilizer amendment
• Safely recycle or dispose of more than 4.7 million pounds of home hazards
• Collect rainwater from the roofs of Renewable Energy Facility 2 and store it in a 2-million gallon cistern, which is used as part of the energy making process

Anyone can sign up on the SWA’s website to receive SWA news, calendar updates, job announcements or other web postings of interest. Should you sign up online to receive SWA’s news releases, we can remove you from the distribution list by sending a reply with the subject “REMOVE” as a reply to this email.

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