Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy will collect expired meds Wednesday

Got outdated prescriptions cluttering your medicine cabinet? Years ago, you probably flushed them down the toilet or dumped them in the garbage.
But concerns for the environment and determination not to have those old drugs accessible for illegal street sales has independent pharmacies on both the North and South forks looking to fill a need.
On Wednesday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., Southold Pharmacy, Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy and Barth’s Pharmacy in Mattituck and Riverhead will join a consortium of South Fork pharmacies in taking back your old drugs. It does not matter whether the drugs were purchased at one of the participating stores.
Just bring them in and they will be collected and turned over for proper incineration.
It’s the first time the program has been offered on the North Fork, though Southrifty Drug in Southampton Village began the effort there last year.
“We live here and this is our water and our environment,” said Barry Barth who owns the two North Fork pharmacies along with stores in East Moriches and Westhampton Beach. It’s important that old prescriptions not pollute our waters, he said.
Southrifty owner Robert Grisknik this year reached out to other local pharmacy operators to form a new consortium designed to take ongoing steps to make the independents more competitive with mail order pharmacies and chain drugstores.
The effort, according to Paulette Ofrias of Southold Pharmacy and Shelter Island Heights Pharmacy, is to level the playing field.
“There’s always strength in numbers,” Ms. Ofrias said. By cooperating with one another, they hope to negotiate as a group with suppliers and insurance companies to help lower their costs, said Brian Walker of Southold Pharmacy.
It’s not so much the chains as the mail order pharmacies that make it difficult for the independents, Mr. Barth said.
“They make everybody jump through a bunch of hoops,” he said. “A lot of this is based on kickbacks,” he said, expressing optimism that by working together, the independents can better compete.