YORKVILLE – The Kendall County Sheriff’s Office and the Kendall County Health Department rolled out new drug disposal pouches in a combined effort to address the national opioid crisis, according to officials from both agencies.

The two departments recently launched the Deterra Drug Deactivation System Kit, which is used to safely dispose of unused medications, according to a Kendall County Sheriff's Office news release. The pouches, which will be distributed to residents free of charge, neutralize unused organic medications in pill, liquid, or patch form and are made of environmentally sound and biodegradable materials.

The Deterra pouches were distributed to the Sheriff’s Office and the Heath Dept though the Rx Abuse Leadership initiative, or RALI, of Illinois, which is giving 50,000 of the FDA-approved drug disposal pouches to partners and organizations.

Kendall County Sheriff Dwight Baird said in the news release the pouches are "another tool that the Sheriff’s Office will have to combat the opioid crisis."

Dr. Amaal Tokars, executive director for the Kendall County Health Department, said in the news release she is grateful for the partnership with the sheriff's office. Citing the Centers for Disease Control, Tokars said in the release that accidental medicine exposure in homes "is a significant source of unintentional poisonings in the United States; every day over 300 children aged 0 to 19 years are treated in an emergency department.

According to the release, the sheriff's office still will have the 24/7 drug collection drop box in the sheriff's office lobby for unwanted, unused or expired medications disposal, prescription or otherwise. The program began in 2017.

Kendall County Sheriff's Dep. Nancy Velez said it's important for the community to be educated about proper drug disposal so they can help protect their families and their environments, especially so drugs don't end up in water supplies.

“We want to help prevent accidental poisoning or substance abuse,” Velez said.

Kendall County Sheriff's Cmdr. Jason Langston said he would still encourage residents to still use the drop box in the lobby of the sheriff's office for medications in larger quantities, like end of life types of drugs or morphine. But if residents have just one bottle of medications to dispose of, he said, the pouches are great for that and then the pouch can be thrown away in the garbage.

The drug disposal methods do not include syringes or other needles. Either agency also does not dispose of used needles or expired epinephrine pens under their current drug disposal program.

RaeAnn VanGundy, spokeswoman for the Kendall County Health Department, said the health department has been told to tell residents they should “put them into a coffee can or put them into a puncture proof container, seal the container with duct tape and write ‘sharps' " on the container to dispose of old needles.

The Deterra deactivation pouches are available for pick up at the sheriff’s office, 1102 Cornell Lane in Yorkville.