Graettinger: Sun City Posse to host shred, drug events

They mostly are white, usually tiny and eventually they become dated. They are all of the various and sundry drugs prescribed to us over the years by our doctors and they just keep growing exponentially in our medicine cabinets and cupboards as we get older — yes, I said older.

What should we do?

Stick them in one of those unrecyclable plastic bags from one of our local grocery stores and bring them to the annual Sun City Posse Take Back Drugs and Shred-A-Thon Saturday, Oct. 29.

The Posse-sponsored Take Back Drugs event will be 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and is in cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. The shred-a-thon will be 8-10 a.m. and is sponsored by the Posse with funding provided by Sonoran Lendings. Both events will be at our headquarters located, 10861 W. Sunland Drive.

Of course, it is those same Posse volunteers who patrol our streets and take care of our administrative duties who will donate even more of their time to make this day a success. So, grab those drugs and pesky outdated bills and receipts and come on down.

“We are so fortunate to have a solid group of volunteers each year that steps forward to make this event such a huge success,” Marc Fuller, Posse commander, said. “No matter if it is our Take Back Drugs initiative or our shred-a-thon event, Posse members are determined to help.”

It has become an annual ritual here in Sun City as residents drop off thousands of bottles of unused and out-of-date drugs and, as in years past, an MCSO deputy is on hand to oversee the project. The collected medicines are sealed and then incinerated.

Remember, this is the only safe way to dispose of them!

Unused and dust-collecting medications are a leading cause of accidental poisoning and throwing unused drugs in the trash or flushing them down the drain is both unsafe and hazardous to our environment. As always, we were the ones appointed to be good stewards of our earth.

In addition to our Take Back Drugs program, Posse volunteers also will be on hand to collect all of those useless pieces of paper we seem to accumulate, including old bank statements and checks, tax forms that date back more than seven years and other expendable items that seem to spill over in boxes and onto our garage floors. So, clean out your storage area or your garage and bring all of those out-of-date items to the shred-a-thon. Load up your trunk with the junk and bring all of those unusable documents to Posse headquarters.

Visit suncityposse.org or facebook.com/suncityposse.org, or call 623-972-2555.

Editor's Note: Diana Graettinger is a Sun City Posse public information officer.