SANTA ROSA BEACH, Fla. – Walton County is asking the community to turn in their old medicine for proper disposal in efforts to educate the public on how they can maintain safe water for Walton.
Operation Medicine Cabinet stopped at Butler Elementary School Saturday afternoon, collecting old and unused medicine for proper disposal.
Safe Water for Walton has partnered with the Southern Waste Information Exchange and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
This is all part of a national movement to keep pharmaceuticals out of the water supply and the underground aquifers that supply much of the Panhandles drinking water.
Organizers urge people who have had recent surgeries, veterans, and young parents to dispose of their unused meds properly.
"The concern about medicines and the proper disposal of them, we really want to educate folks not to flush them down the drain.
And the concern there is a lot of waste water treatment facilities aren’t really designed to handle pharmaceuticals and we want to make sure they are being managed properly," said Gene Jones, Executive Director of SWIX.
This was the 19th event held in the state of Florida so far and dozens of pounds of pharmaceuticals were collected.