Exclusive: How Your Old, Unwanted Medications Are Transformed Into Electricity
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TULSA, OK (CBS11) - A 53-foot semi may not be your typical trash truck.
What's inside that's being disposed of, is anything but typical: Millions of millions of expired pills collected in a matter of hours from homeowners in North Texas, Tyler, and Lubbock, as part of the DEA's National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
And what these outdated prescription drugs are being used for now may surprise you.
The medications unloaded at the Covanta Energy plant in Tulsa are used to create power.
Matt Newman, Covanta's Director of Business Management says, "What you saw today was five, six, or seven tons."
A giant "jaws-like" crane moves the drugs and other household and industrial waste to the next step of the process.
The drugs and other waste are ultimately taken into a high tech boiler.
From there, they're combusted at a really high temperature.
The intense heat in the boiler is as hot as lava.
It generates industrial quality steam at 650 degrees Fahrenheit, which in turn makes renewable energy.
"This renewable energy not only powers a refinery across the street, which is a bit ironic, but we do generate clean, renewable electricity and deliver it to the grid," says Newman.
It's not just prescription drugs.
Special Agent Elaine Cesare of the DEA's Dallas division says all of the synthetic drugs they seize are regularly turned into energy.
And that's not all.
"Our synthetic drugs, this is how we get rid of them, all of our heroin, cocaine, and marijuana," says Agent Cesare. This is what we do."
Since 2013, the DEA's Dallas division has destroyed more than 140,000 pounds or about 70 tons of illegal drugs and outdated prescription medications.
If the prescription drugs didn't end up here at Covanta Energy, they could pose a risk by turning up in our landfills or water supply.
Both the Cesare and Newman urge people not to flush old medications down the toilet or rinse them into the sink.
Cesare says destroying the outdated medications also save lives by keeping them out of the hands of curious children and teenagers who may try to get high on them.
"It's taken curiosity out of the cabinet. They have parties that are called pharm parties. They either inhale, snort, or inject. It's dangerous, they don't even know what they're doing."
As word gets out, the DEA believes the number of prescription drugs it disposes of this way will continue to rise.
There are places that collect your old, expired prescription medications and other pills year-round.
To find the nearest location, you can click here and enter your zip code.
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