Kendall County Coroner, Sheriff To Participate In Drug Take-Back Day

KENDALL COUNTY, IL — The Kendall County Coroner's Office will collect unwanted or expired prescription medications as part of National Drug Take-Back Day, officials announced Thursday.

In partnership with the Kendall County Sheriff's Office, the event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 29 at the Kendall County Government campus, off West John Street and Cornell Lane in Yorkville.

"Drop-offs will be collected in a drive-through area, and no information is collected from participants," officials said. "This is a safe, anonymous and quick method of disposing of expired, unused or unwanted medications."

During the drive-thru-style event, staff will accept prescription medications, used medical sharps and diabetic supplies, the latter of which will be donated to Insulin For Life, a nonprofit organization that directs supplies to help patients in more than 74 developing nations.

Officials provided a list of items for participants to keep in mind before dropping off medicines:

• Ensure that all personal information has been removed from all prescription medication for your protection. This includes removing all names and addresses from labels. Staff will not sort through medications after collection.
• Sharps collection is being offered by the Coroner's Office as a separate public service from the DEA event. If you are dropping off sharps, they must be separate from all other medications. Prior to arriving, please follow the steps listed below:
  • Unused/sealed sharps should be placed in a special collection bin by themselves. Do not intermix them with other prescriptions to be dropped off.
  • Used/opened sharps should be placed into a rigid container for the safety of collection site staff (we recommend an empty laundry detergent bottle). If you do not have a rigid container to place used sharps in, please notify collection staff and they will assist you. Do not intermix used sharps with other medications or unused sharps. We must treat these as biohazardous and they must be handled differently.
• If you are donating any diabetic supplies (such as glucose, lancets, readers, injectable medications, etc.), please package them separately from all other medications so that we can forward them to Insulin for Life.
• If you would like a donation receipt for tax purposes (IFL is a 501(c)3), please let the collection site staff know. They will collect your name and contact information, and a receipt will be sent to you after the event has concluded.

Anyone with questions about the event is asked to contact the Kendall County Coroner's Office at 630-553-4200 or staff@kendallcoroner.org.