Have you ever thought of an impact a simple pill has on the environment? Does something so small create an ecological issue? Unfortunately, it does. Every day millions of people take one or more pills, be it over-the-counter or prescribed medicine and every day millions of these pills end up as a waste. The most common way of disposing of medications is simply flashing them down the toilet. But have you thought what happens with the pills once they enter the sewage system?
People flush away a constant flow of old and unused medications that keep on working after they disappear down drains, moving to wastewater-treatment plants and into waterways, thus affecting the wildlife. The whole populations of fish are at risk of extinction, as it nearly happened to fathead minnows in Canada, which were affected by the ethynyl estradiol from the disposed birth-control patches. The hormone, present in the water, changed both male and female sex organs making reproduction quite difficult and causing a near extinction of the whole population of fish.
And this is just a fraction of the problem. Most drugs end up in waterways to some extent, then to be mixed in commercial soil modifications as a part of the muck, which is in turn used by farmers. In 2006 pharmaceuticals including anti-epileptics and anti-depressants were detected in commercially sold muck. And a 2002 analysis of 139 streams detected non-prescription drugs more frequently than almost all other organic wastewater pollutants. Moving full circle, old medications have found their way into drinking water supplies, including well and tap water, affecting not only populations of river and stream wildlife but humans as well, and children in particular. Unfortunately, the pharmacies are not allowed to take the medications back once sold and so far there is no approved drug take-back program.
So what can we do to reduce the pollution of our water supplies? For starters, you can flush only the drugs that specifically state so and crush all others with coffee grains or cat litter to be thrown away in the regular trash. And most importantly be aware of the waste you produce and how you can minimize its impact on the environment.
