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Medication Disposal

Health & Human Service  /  Public Health  /  Medication Disposal

Medication Disposal

Columbia County residents may take expired or unused medications for disposal to:

  1. City of Portage Police Dept, 117 West Pleasant St., Portage, (608) 742-2174
  2. Columbia Co. Law Enforcement Center, 711 East Cook St., Portage, (608) 742-4166
  3. City of Lodi Police Dept, 142 S. Main St., Lodi, (608) 592-5401
  4. City of Columbus Police Department, 159 S. Ludington St., Columbus, (920) 623-5919
  5. City of Wisconsin Dells Police Department, 712 Oak St., Wisconsin Dells, (608) 253-1611

There is no charge for this service. A resident may take their medications to any of the above five sites.

Flushing these medications down pipes into a municipal sewer system may release harmful chemicals into the environment. Surface water, groundwater, and fish can become contaminated from these drugs. Also, disposing of these medications in your normal garbage could result in these drugs getting into the wrong hands. Police describe situations of "dumpster diving", where individuals, other than authorized solid waste collection workers, search through garbage for used medications. If a label is left on the bottle, these individuals may try to fill prescriptions.

Used Medical Needle Disposal

Within Columbia County, you can go to most pharmacies and request a "Sharps" container. This will be given to you free of charge. Place all your used medical syringes with needles attached into the Sharps. There is no need to break the needle nor the syringe. Put the whole unit, after your injection, into the container. When the container is full, return it to the pharmacy. They will give you a new container, at no charge.