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 The Great Lakes Pharmaceutical Product Stewardship project is an EPA-funded Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to develop a comprehensive strategy to address the issue of proper disposal of unwanted medicines and personal care products in the Great Lakes region. This project is a partnership between
several key stakeholders in response to public health and environmental concerns. Partners including the University of Wisconsin Extension, The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, The Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin, The Midwest Product Stewardship Council, and the Product Stewardship Institute, are working to promote pharmaceutical stewardship throughout the Great Lakes region.
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The Great Lakes Pharmaceutical Product Stewardship project is seeking a more sustainable long term solution to managing and reducing pharmaceutical waste in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana as well as Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania. Active pharmaceutical compounds and personal care products (PPCPs) have been detected in the Great Lakes Watershed. There is also a rising incidence of prescription drug abuse and overdoses in the U.S. The goal of the project is to raise public awareness about the need to create permanent, secure, and convenient drug take back programs throughout the region in order to reduce the amount of waste containing persistent toxic substances in the Great Lakes, protect public health and curb the long-term costs of regulation, control and clean up.
The partners have convened a coalition of state and local government, environmental and public health representatives to discuss the most appropriate approach for the region and have drafted a brief document summarizing those recommendations. "Key Elements of Pharmaceutical Collection and Disposal Programs: A Vision for the Great Lakes Region" has been endorsed by over 30 organizations, governments and individuals, and is intended to serve as a guide for policy makers looking to take action on this pressing issue.
The long-term sustainable solution to this complex problem requires collaboration among state and local governments, law enforcement, the healthcare sector, the pharmaceutical industry and the general public. Together, we can develop a sustainable program that addresses the life cycle of these contaminants and aims to develop a cost effective collection system for managing unused pharmaceuticals, while ensuring the costs and responsibility for these programs does not fall entirely to taxpayers and local governments with limited resources.
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