Three things I will not flush down the toilet in 2010

1. Its 2010 and you have finally decided to go through your medicine cabinet and get rid of the pharmaceuticals that expired in 2002. I know, 2002 feels like just yesterday but it is almost a full decade ago and those pills are no longer good. Well you then face dilemma, should you put the pills in the garbage, hoping that your child and dog won't get into trash and ingest the discarded pills. The second option is to empty the pills out into the toilet and flush. Well the latter option seems to be the most sensible, with one flush the older pills are out of site and out of mind. Not really, a toilet flush is actually the worst way to get rid of the contents of your medicine cabinet. The pharmaceuticals you flush actually end up in the local water supply reeking havoc on the fish. Trace amounts of blood pressure, depression, painkiller, cholesterol, and birth control pills were found in fish. The EPA performed tests on local fish in Orlando, Phoenix and few others including my home town of West Chester, PA. The flushed medicine actually can effect the reproduction and development of fish and frogs.{Source: Natural Standard.com Drugs found in fish} If you are wondering, how should I get rid of the drugs without flushing them? Well, it is suggested that you contact your local trash service to check if they have a service that gets rid of the medication. You can also check with you local pharmacy for an expired prescription disposal program. If those options fail and you have to throw them away in the trash. The best thing to do is to keep the pills in their bottles and dispose of them in a bag with unpleasant things like discarded food remains, coffee grinds..(nasty stuff). This will help keep kids and pets stay away from it. Make sure the trash is not in an area where the child or pet can easily get into it. Finally try to make your, "throw out day," close to trash day, the longer you have those pills hanging around the better chance of a negative occurrence.

2. So the New Year has also brought you to grips with your smoking habit and you want to quit. Quitting is a great idea for your health and for the environment. Flushing your cigarette down the toilet or flicking the finished cigarette out the window can lead to contamination in the local streams, rivers, or lakes. Fish don't do well with cigarettes. In fact a discarded filter can kill a fish that shares a liter of water with the used butt. {Source: Oceanleadership.org: cigarette-butts-toxic-to-fish }"Next time you flick a fish could get sick."

3. Well since we are trying to save water. A great idea is to stop flushing too much water down the toilet per usage.The average American uses 140 to 160 gallons of water per day.{Source: EPA: Water Usage} Toilets can account for 20 gallons worth. On top of the that, try to get tissues, paper towels, toilet paper that do not have colored decorations on them. The wonderful ink floral patterns from the designs have the potential to do some damage when it leaks into the local water supply.

The Save Water Project wishes you a happy and healthy New Years