Raking leaves and winterizing properties are not the only fall cleanup chores to complete as residents are encouraged to safely and properly dispose of expired or unneeded medications during the biannual National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday.

The biannual promotion is sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the take-back day in April gathered 335 tons of medications at 4,869 collection sites nationwide.

Among them are multiple opportunities in Northwest Colorado.

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Moffat County Sheriff’s Office offers a take-back container 24 hours day in the front lobby at 800 W. First St. in Craig.

In Steamboat Springs, free, public and secure take-back boxes are located at the Emergency Room lobby entrance at UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center, which is open 24 hours a day, as well as at Safeway pharmacy during grocery business hours.

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“By safely disposing of prescription and over-the-counter expired medications or those that are no longer needed, you can do your part to keep our community safe, both from a human and environmental perspective,” said Ray Olexa, clinical pharmacist at Yampa Valley Medical Center.

In Hayden, the Police Department has a medication take-back box in the department lobby at 249 Hawthorne St. available 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday. In Oak Creek, a drug take-back container is located near the pharmacy at Bonfiglio Drug and is available during business hours.

The drug take-back boxes do not accept sharps or needles, so the outpatient pharmacy at Yampa Valley Medical Center provides free sharps disposal containers for individuals to pick up. Individuals can mail the filled container via U.S. Postal Service for safe disposal at no cost.

Citizens should remove any personal information from the packaging and place medications in a sealable bag or container.

According to the Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Practice, a 2022 study found that 82.1% of respondents threw unwanted drugs in the household garbage while 79.5% did not know about proper medication disposal.

Health care, law enforcement and environmental officials urge residents to take advantage of free and safe drug drop-off containers to keep medications out of the hands of children, teens and others and to help keep water sources cleaner and safer. Experts say medications flushed down the toilet or thrown in the trash can contaminate water systems and threaten wildlife.

Some 47% of teens say it is easy to get prescription drugs from a parent’s medicine cabinet, according to the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

For more information and more take-back locations in the region, visit http://www.dea.gov/takebackday.