Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois (BCBSIL) is joining Walgreens to expand the availability of year-round safe medication disposal kiosks in select Walgreens locations. This effort was announced last year by health care organizations to combat the national opioid abuse crisis. When the expansion is complete, kiosks will be available in approximately 1,500 Walgreens stores nationwide.
Safe medication disposal kiosks located throughout the state are being co-branded with BCBSIL and Walgreens logos. Safe medication disposal kiosks allow individuals to safely and conveniently dispose of their unwanted, unused or expired prescriptions, including controlled substances, and over-the-counter medications at no cost.
The kiosks are available during regular pharmacy hours at Walgreens pharmacies and offer one of the best ways to ensure medications are not accidentally used or intentionally misused by someone else.
Safe medication disposal kiosks have collected more than 270 tons of unwanted medications since the program began in 2016. This includes 115 tons since Walgreens announced its partnership with leading health care organizations to expand the availability of safe medication disposal kiosks.
For a full list of Walgreens drug takeback kiosk locations, visit the Walgreens store locator.
BCBSIL is proud to work with organizations from throughout the health care community to make it even easier for people to safely dispose of their unwanted medications.