Great Lakes Today

Great Lakes Today was created to highlight issues affecting the lakes. The main partners are WBFO (Buffalo), ideastream (Cleveland) and WXXI (Rochester).Browse more coverage here. Major funding for Great Lakes Today is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American People. Additional funding comes from the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

Drug Take Back Day helps protect fish in Great Lakes

By Angelica A. Morrison

Published April 27, 2017 at 1:03 PM EDT

National Prescription Drug Take Back Day takes place Saturday, April 29, and New York Sea Grant is urging residents of the Great Lakes region to participate to help protect fish and wildlife. The organization says fish downstream from wastewater plants sometimes contain chemicals like estrogen from prescription drugs. "It goes into our waterways if you flush these chemicals into our waterways they're going to stay in our waterways," said Kathy Bunting-Howarth, associate director for New York Sea Grant. The event gives residents a chance to take unused pharmaceuticals to collection sites as an alternative to flushing them down the toilet, she said. A second National Take Back Day is scheduled for Sept. 29. Bunting-Howarth says that on days when the take back program isn't offered, folks may be able to take unused drugs to a local pharmacy. New York Sea Grant has more information about the way drugs can affect fish in the Great Lakes.

Use this link to search by ZIP code or city/county for a nearby collection site.