Public Act 096-0369
 
HB0658 Enrolled LRB096 07990 JDS 18094 b

    AN ACT concerning safety.
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
 
    Section 5. The Environmental Protection Act is amended by
adding Section 17.9 as follows:
 
    (415 ILCS 5/17.9 new)
    Sec. 17.9. Collaborative on Environmentally Safe Disposal
of Pharmaceuticals.
    (a) The Medication Education Disposal Solutions (MEDS)
collaborative is established for the purpose of partnering with
public and private sector constituents to promote the
environmentally responsible disposal of unwanted and expired
medications.
    (b) The collaborative shall consist of the Director of the
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency or his or her designee
and volunteer persons and organizations that have expressed an
interest in contributing to the development of programs that
(i) educate the public on the safe disposal of unwanted or
expired medications and (ii) establish an expanded network of
secure pharmaceutical collection centers throughout the State.
Members of the collaborative may organize themselves as they
deem necessary. The collaborative shall focus on the
development of an organization that will produce educational
materials for the public and assist in promoting the expansion
of a network of secure pharmaceutical collection centers
throughout the State. In developing and evaluating proposals to
achieve these objectives, the Agency and MEDS shall:
        (1) Develop, for placement on the Medication Disposal
    page of the Agency's Web site, additional information
    regarding best practices for the disposal of
    pharmaceuticals.
        (2) Develop proposals that will expand opportunities
    for the safe disposal of pharmaceuticals and personal care
    products.
        (3) Develop relationships with local health
    departments, local governments, pharmacies, police
    departments, and similar organizations to establish
    programs that will promote and enhance the safe disposal of
    pharmaceuticals.
        (4) Develop educational materials that can be
    distributed to the public, schools, and various
    participating organizations.
        (5) Review and adapt information from the USEPA and the
    USGS to inform and educate the public and further refine
    the Illinois pharmaceutical disposal program.
        (6) Actively support supervised pharmaceutical
    collection, including Household Hazardous Waste collection
    events, at various locations around the State.
        (7) Develop additional activities that further support
    environmentally safe disposal of pharmaceuticals.
    (c) No later than December 31, 2010, the MEDS collaborative
shall submit a report on its program development and
recommendations for furthering environmentally safe disposal
of pharmaceuticals. The Agency shall post the report and any
other relevant findings on its Web site.
    (d) This Section is repealed July 1, 2011.
 
    Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.