The public should be informed of safe methods to dispose of unwanted medications that might otherwise harm the environment. Photo credit: USFWS.

La Crosse County offers a year-round collection program that safely disposes of unwanted medications. This service is available to individuals, businesses, and other units of government throughout the Midwest. Photo credit: La Crosse County Household Hazardous Materials Program.

Deputized members of the La Crosse County Solid Waste Department staff have legal authority, throughout the U.S., to collect and transport unwanted medications for proper disposal using this mobile trailer. Photo credit: USFWS.

The growing awareness of cumulative human impacts on the sustainability of the global environment is leading many Americans to seek practical ways to reduce their local environmental “footprint” on the Earth.  Wanting to provide an informal forum for those interested in protecting the environmental quality of western Wisconsin’s Coulee Region, local business owner Chris Schneider recently founded the La Crosse (WI) chapter of Green Drinks.  This international organization brings ‘green-minded’ people together monthly for drinks, conversation, and networking in a casual atmosphere. 

Recognizing an opportunity to inform this environmentally focused group about the Service’s  SMAR_XT DISPOSAL ^TM partnership campaign encouraging safe disposal of medications, La Crosse NFWCO biologist Mark Steingraeber attended the March 18 Green Drinks gathering at Hackberry’s Bistro in La Crosse.  Here he raised awareness of medications commonly found in surface water that can adversely impact aquatic fauna.  Steingraeber also informed the two dozen individuals who gathered that evening about the collection and safe disposal program for unwanted medications begun in 2007 by La Crosse County. During its initial year of operation, this Solid Waste Department administered program received: approval by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration; support from the La Crosse NFWCO and other key community partners; more than 4.5 tons of unwanted medications that otherwise were likely to be discarded in regional land-fills or surface waters; and prestigious award recognition for its innovative success.  This is the first permanent program in Wisconsin, and one of only a handful like it in the nation, that offers safe collection and disposal of unwanted medications on a year-round basis.  It also serves as a model for the development of similar programs in other communities around the country.

Combining a sense of business savvy with his earnest environmental leadership in the community, Green Drinks organizer Schneider also hosts an independently produced television program titled the Thinking Green Moment.  Sponsored by the Honda automobile dealership that he owns in La Crosse, this brief show is broadcast every Tuesday night by two western Wisconsin FOX network affiliates (WLAX 25/WEUX 48) to a viewing market estimated at 212-thousand households.  The weekly show features Schneider interviewing a guest who shares a personal perspective on the local environment and suggests actions for viewers to help protect it. 

Following the Green Drinks gathering in March, Schneider invited Steingraeber to appear with him in an upcoming Thinking Green Moment production.  Here they discussed the emerging national issue of medications in drinking water supplies and safe alternatives to dispose of unwanted medications in the Coulee Region.  This interview was recorded July 15 and a one-minute summary of the key points was televised on WLAX 25/WEUX 48 on August 5 during the FOX News at 9 broadcast.  The entire five-minute interview (Episode 36: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) and others like it can be viewed at http://www.hybridcarstore.com/video/index.php .