View of Erie, Pennsylvania from Presque Isle
Photo by Pat Noble, WikiProject Erie
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Pennsylvania Sea Grant Keep Unwanted Medicine out of Lake Erie Medicine Collection Day in Erie, Pennsylvania on April 26, 2008
All medicine collection photos in this story are by Anna McCartney, Erie Times-News in Education
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Erie, Pennsylvania residents turn in about 600 pounds worth of medicine and personal care products, over 73,000 pills at the April 2008 Sea Grant Pharmaceutical collection during EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge
(Erie, Pennsylvania) - Erie, Pennsylvania area residents dropped off about 600 pounds worth of medicine and personal care products on Saturday, April 26, 2008 during the Pennsylvania Sea Grant pharmaceutical collection.
Showing their love for Lake Erie, residents brought in over 73,000 pills and a large amount of controlled substances like narcotic pain medication, according to Sara Grisè, Pennsylvania Sea Grant coastal outreach specialist.
The collection was held at the Cruise Boat Terminal Building behind the Memorial Library named for Dr. Raymond Blasco in Erie, Pennsylvania.
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Keep Unwanted Medicine out of Lake Erie Medicine Collection results:
87 participants
Collected 120 gallons of materials
5 of the 120 gallons were controlled substances
About 600 pounds worth of medicine and personal care products
Controlled category II:
1,031 pills
130 milliliters of liquids
Controlled category III, IV, V:
1,397 pills
1,180 milliliters of liquids
Controlled Unidentified:
1,410 pills
102 milliliters of liquids
4 pieces of gum
6 towelettes
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Controlled total: 3,839 pills
Non-Controlled total: 69,232 pills
Personal Care products: 384
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The Keep Unwanted Medicine out of Lake Erie Medicine Collection Day was held as part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge.
The challenge involved over 100 pharmaceutical and electronic waste collections in hundreds of communities across eight states in the Great Lakes Basin.
Ohio EPA Map of polluted Lake Erie in 1970s
Across America, the reputation of Lake Erie - especially in the 1960s and 1970s - was that of 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.
Lake Erie photo (above) courtesy Jim's Photos Unixdoctor
View of Lake Erie from Cranch Park in Erie, PA
Photo by Pat Noble, WikiProject Erie
EPA Graphic
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The EPA Lake Erie Lakewide Management Plan has been a big force in the recovery of Lake Erie.
EPA/Bay City Times/Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab Photo
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In recent years, officials have been fighting the Zebra Muscle problem in Lake Erie. It's been a love/hate relationship as the muscles have done good and bad things to the lake.
One goal of the pharmaceutical collection was to prevent medicine s from being discharged into Lake Erie and to make sure the drugs don't end up in other surrounding lakes and streams.
Goal of medicine collection is to protect rivers, lakes and streams like Cascade Creek in Erie, PA
Photo by Pat Noble, WikiProject Erie
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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.
Pictured above are Erie Police Dept. officers. Law enforcement officers are required by federal law at collections of controlled substances
Students and pharmacists from the LECOM School of Pharmacy counted and sorted drugs during the medicine collection
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Some of the unsung heros at pharmaceuticals collections are the police and pharmacists - without whom the collections would not be possible.
At all locations, including Erie, Law enforcement and pharmacists were on hand to accept the pharmaceuticals.
Based on experience, organizers discovered the turnout was bigger when residents don't have to preregister.
Of the 87 residents participating in the collection, 61 did not preregister.
Sara Grisè, Pennsylvania Sea Grant coastal outreach specialist (pictured above on the right; and Marti Martz, also a Pennsylvania Sea Grant coastal outreach specialist, and many others worked hard to make the collection a success.
Over 70,000 pills were turned as Erie, PA area residents showed their love for Lake Erie by participating in the Keep Unwanted Medicine out of Lake Erie Medicine Collection Day
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And similar to the other collections, most Erie participants were older adults as 89 percent were over the age of 46.
Assisting in the proper disposal of the medicines was ECS & R - Environmental Coordination Services and Recycling in Cochranton, Pennsylvania.
Medicine Collection Sponsors:
The organizers of the Erie collection included Pennsylvania Sea Grant, the City of Erie, Lake Erie-Allegheny Earth Force, LECOM school of Pharmacy, and Erie Times-News in Education.
Organizers partnered with the WJET-TV Channel 24 Erie Green Campaign.
WSEE TV provided their news story for use in a video about the collection.
The Pennsylvania Sea Grant received a grant from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Great Lakes map highlighting Lake Erie by Lawrence W. Ellerbruch, Northern Michigan University
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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 Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 office in Chicago, the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office also in Chicago in cooperation with 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.
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For more info contact:
Sara Grisè
Pennsylvania Sea Grant
814-217-9011
Unwanted Medications
301 Peninsula Drive, Suite 3
Erie, PA
Marti Martz
Coastal Outreach Specialist
Pennsylvania Sea Grant
814-217-9015
814-217-9021 (fax)
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Erie collection organizers received assistance from EPA Region 3 (with assistance from Region 5), Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.
Organizers thank following organizations who were part of the team that make the collection program a success:
Community Health Net
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources
Environmental Coordination Services and Recycling (ECS&R)
Erie County Environmental Coalition
Erie Center on Health and Aging
Erie County Health Department
Erie Housing Authority
Erie Port Authority
Erie Wastewater Treatment Facility
Local Pharmacies
Greater Erie Community Action Committee (GECAC)
Hamot Medical Center
Lake Erie Sierra Club
Local Senior centers
Pennsylvania Lake Erie Watershed Association
Presque Isle Audubon
State Board of Pharmacy
USDEA local agent
Visiting Nurses Association
WJET-TV 24 Erie Green Campaign
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Related websites:
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Pennsylvania Sea Grant:
http://www.pserie.psu.edu/seagrant/seagindex.htm
In November 2006, Sara Grisè joined Pennsylvania Sea Grant as a Coastal Outreach Specialist:
http://www.pserie.psu.edu/seagrant/about/grise.htm
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EPA Region 5 Office in Chicago, Illinois
http://www.epa.gov/region5
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ECS&R - Environmental Coordination Services & Recycling
3237 US Highway 19
Cochranton, PA
16314
814-425-7773
814-425-3201 (fax)
ECS&R 24 hour emergency response call:
877-902-2452
email:
info@ecsr.net
http://www.ecsr.net/
http://www.ecsr.net/environmental.html
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WJET-TV 24 Erie Green Campaign:
http://yourerie.com/
http://yourerie.com/content/green
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WSEE TV Erie. PA
http://www.wsee.tv/
http://www.wsee.tv/news.php
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=WSEE01
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City of Erie
http://ci.erie.pa.us/
City of Erie flag/seal are courtesy the English Wikipedia Graphics Lab & Cronholm144
Erie Police Dept.
http://ci.erie.pa.us/Departments/PoliceDepartment/tabid/72/Default.aspx
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Lake Erie-Allegheny Earth Force
http://www.earthforce.org/section/offices/lea
http://www.earthforce.org/section/offices/lea/leasuccess_stories
http://www.earthforce.org/section/offices/lea/leacontact_us
http://www.earthforce.org/section/offices/lea/leaschools
http://www.earthforce.org/
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LECOM School of Pharmacy in Erie, PA
Photo by Pat Noble, WikiProject Erie
LECOM school of Pharmacy
http://www.lecom.edu/school_pharmacy.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LECOM
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Erie Times-News newspaper building in Erie, PA
Photo by Pat Noble, WikiProject Erie
Erie Times-News in Education
http://www.goerie.com/
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=ETN
Erie Times-News front page April 23, 2008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_Times-News
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Erie, PA photos by Pat Noble
Erie, Pennsylvania - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie
Erie photos courtesy Pat Noble aka Pnoble805, a member of WikiProject Erie
Photos include Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry monument, Liberty Park's Pepsi Amphitheater, Times-News building, skyline of Erie, Pennsylvania as seen from Presque Isle, Cranch Park, west branch of Cascade Creek under a small bridge at Frontier Park, and the LECOM medical school.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pnoble805
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Pnoble805#My_work_on_WikiProject_Erie
City of Erie flag/seal are courtesy the English Wikipedia Graphics Lab & Cronholm144
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Lake Erie Photos courtesy Jim's Photos Unixdoctor
http://www.unixdoctor.com/gallery/niagara/Lake_Erie_02
http://www.unixdoctor.com/gallery/albums.php
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Lake Erie map graphic courtesy Lawrence W. Ellerbruch, Northern Michigan University
http://ellerbruch.nmu.edu/classes/cs255f03/cs255students/ateraves/P6/tutorial2.html
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Shallow Lake Erie photo courtesy Environment Canada:
http://www.ec.gc.ca/
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Lake Erie polluted photo courtesy Ohio EPA
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/oleo/reports/leqi/leqi2004/pollutionsources/Pollutionsourcespic.jpg
http://www.epa.state.oh.us/
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EPA: Lake Erie Management Plan reports:
http://www.epa.gov/greatlakes/erie.html
http://www.epa.gov/lakeerie/index.html
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EPA - Zebra Mussels photo info:
http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/image/viz_iss4.html
Zebra mussels washed up on beach, Lake Erie
Bay City Times (courtesy Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab)
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White House Office of Drug Control Policy:
http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/
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Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/
Call:
906-401-0109
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Cedar Tree Institute
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org/
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Earth 911:
http://earth911.org/
http://earth911.org/blog/2008
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Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Baha'i Community)
Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website:
http://www.interfaithresources.com/
Justice St. Rain
1-800-326-1197 (toll free)
1-847-733-3559 (wk)
Interfaith Resources
P.O. Box 9
511 Diamond Rd
Heltonville, IN
47436
Photos of the April 2008 pharmaceutical collection in Erie, Pennsylvania
Photos by Anna McCartney, Erie Times-News in Education
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