Be safe: take your discarded drugs to a National Take-Back Initiative collection site.
Photo credit: U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
On Saturday, April 28, Cleveland-area governments are offering their communities a safe, convenient way to get rid of unwanted and expired prescription drugs. Local residents can take their leftover pills, liquids, syringes, inhalers and other medicines to a nearby collection site, where they will be accepted and disposed of, no questions asked.
Prescription drugs are an especially dangerous type of hazardous waste. They’re difficult to dispose of and dangerous to keep around the house.
- If discovered by children and pets, they can be poisonous, and the results can be fatal.
- If flushed into the sewer system, they contaminate the water supply, giving your neighbors unsuspected doses of narcotics, hormones, antibiotics and steroids.
- If tossed into the trash, they may end up in the hands of scavengers who will resell them, or they will end up in the landfill as toxic waste that contaminates groundwater.
In cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Take Back Initiative (NTBI), local communities have established collection sites throughout the region. (The DEA continues to add collection sites, so if you don’t find a convenient site in the lists that follow, check the NTBI search page.)
- Ashtabula County sites
- Cuyahoga County sites (Cleveland east side)
- Cuyahoga County sites (Cleveland west side)
- Cuyahoga County sites (suburban)
- Geauga County sites
- Lake County sites
To view a map of a collection site, click on the site’s address.
- Conneaut: University Hospital Conneaut Medical Center, 158 W. Main Road
- Geneva: University Hospital Geneva Medical Center, 870 W. Main Street
- Jefferson: Jefferson Emergency Rescue District, 11 South Market Street
Cuyahoga County/Cleveland East Side
- Euclid Hospital, 18901 Lake Shore Boulevard
- Cleveland Division of Police, 3rd District, 10700 Chester Avenue
- Cleveland Division of Police, 4th District, 9333 Kinsman Road
- Cleveland Division of Police, 5th District, 881 East 152nd Street
Cuyahoga County/Cleveland West Side
- Lutheran Hospital, 730 West 25th Street
- Cleveland Division of Police, 2nd District, 3841 Fulton Road
- Cleveland Division of Police, 1st district, 3895 West 130th Street
- Discount Drug Mart (parking lot), 17815 Puritas Road
- Cuyahoga County Board of Health, 5550 Venture Drive
- Bay Village: Bay Village Police Department, 28000 Wolf Road
- Beachwood: Beachwood Fire Department, 2655 Richmond Road
- Bedford: University Hospital Bedford Medical Center, 44 Blaine Avenue
- Brecksville: Public Square, corner of Route 21 (Brecksville Road) and Route 82 (Royalton Road)
- Brook Park: North Park Retirement Community, 14801 Holland Road
- Cuyahoga Heights: NE Ohio Regional Sewer District Environmental & Maintenance Servics Center, 4747 East 49th Street
- Fairview Park: Fairview Park Police Department, 20777 Lorain Road
- Garfield Heights: Marymount Hospital, 2300 McCracken Road
- Gates Mills: Gates Mills Police Department, 1470 Chagrin River Road
- Highland Heights: Highland Heights Police Department, 5827 Highland Road
- Independence: Independence Police Department, 6800 Brecksville Road
- Lakewood: Lakewood Hospital, 14519 Detroit Avenue
- Lakewood: Lakewood Police Department, 12650 Detroit Avenue
- Maple Heights: Discount Drug Mart (parking lot), 6148 Dunham Road
- Mayfield Heights: Mayfield Heights Police Department, 6154 Mayfield Road
- Mayfield Village: Mayfield Village Police Department, 620 SOM Center Road
- Middleburg Heights: Sanford Brown College, 17535 Rosbough Drive
- Newburgh Heights: Washington Park Horticultural School/Center (parking lot), 3875 Washington Park Boulevard
- North Olmsted: North Olmsted Police Department, 27243 Lorain Road
- North Royalton: Discount Drug Mart (parking lot), 5500 Wallings Road
- Olmsted Falls: Olmsted Falls Police Department, 26100 Bagley Road
- Orange Village: Orange Village Police Department, 4600 Lander Road
- Parma: Parma Senior Center, 7001 West Ridgewood Avenue
- Pepper Pike: Pepper Pike Police Department, 28000 Shaker Boulevard
- Rocky River: Rocky River Police Department, 21012 Hilliard Boulevard
- Solon: Solon Senior Centr, 35000 Portz Parkway
- Strongsville: Discount Drug Mart (parking lot), 13919 Prospect Road
- Strongsville: Strongsville Police Department, 18688 Royalton Road
- Westlake: Westlake Police Department, 273 Hilliard Boulevard
- Chardon: Geauga County Sheriff’s Office (parking lot), 12450 Merritt Road
- Willoughby Hills: Willoughby Hills Fire Department, 35405 Chardon Road
- Willowick: Willowick Police Department, 30435 Lake Shore Boulevard
For more information about the National Take-Back Initiative, see the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration website. A complete list of collection sites nationwide is available through the NTBI search page.
Unused drugs are hazardous waste: keep them out of the wrong hands … keep them out of our water … keep them out of the landfill.
Keep It Out of the Landfill 