Father-daughter duo David and Emma Robinow strand near the medication drop box, funded by the Odd Fellows, now available to the village at the Bryan Center. Unused or expired prescription and over-the-counter medications can be disposed of safely by placing it in the box. (Photo by Lauren “Chuck” Shows)
Dispose of your meds, safely
- Published: January 30, 2026
For a lot of folks, old medication languishes in the bathroom cabinet or elsewhere around the house until it’s time to make room for incoming items. When that time comes, what to do with medicine that’s past its expiration date?
The answer appeared last week in the lobby of the Bryan Center: a metal dropbox, situated just to the left of the YS Police Department’s dispatch window. With a sign attached to the front that reads, “Discard your unused or expired medications here,” the new medication disposal box is now available for use during the Bryan Center’s open hours.
The box is the result of a collaboration between the YS Police Department, local resident Emma Robinow and Odd Fellows Lodge #279, and is designed to safely collect prescription drugs, over-the-counter medications and even vitamins. Robinow, a pharmacist who spearheaded the project, told the News this week that folks are often stymied when it comes to what to do with medication once the expiration date has passed.
“It’s a question I get a lot at work: ‘I’ve got these extra old medications. What do I do with them?’” she said. “So I felt like it was a need for our community, and the lodge would be a great organization to help with that.”
Robinow noted that expired medications lose their efficacy and shouldn’t be used, but that simply throwing them in the trash presents a hazard, since they could be misused or accidentally ingested if found.
“You also don’t want to flush them down the toilet,” she said, noting that flushing drugs of any kind could introduce them into the municipal wastewater system. The drop box, on the other hand, is locked, and its contents, once inside, are inaccessible by the general public.
“So this is a great way to safely and securely dispose of medications,” she said.
A longtime member of the local Odd Fellows lodge, Robinow brought the idea before the group. David Robinow, Emma Robinow’s father and a member of the lodge, said the group was already looking for projects that were community-focused and visible to the public, and voted unanimously to fund the box.
“Everybody seemed to think it was a decent idea,” he said.
The YS Police Department agreed: Chief Paige Burge said the box is a good fit for the Bryan Center. Village crews mounted it in view of a security camera, so the YSPD can “keep an eye on things.”
Burge said that, depending on how full the box gets, medications dropped off will likely be taken for disposal quarterly. YSPD has partnered with an area animal crematorium to dispose of medications via incineration.
“They do that for us completely free,” Burge said, adding that there is no contact between the medication and any animal remains.
Burge also said the box is not designed to collect illicit substances, which could be harmful if airborne or exposed to skin. Any such substances found, she said, should be turned in at the YSPD directly. Other materials not accepted in the dropbox include needles or sharps, inhalers, aerosol cans, thermometers, lotions or liquids and hydrogen peroxide.
The new box has already seen some use: David Robinow said he’s already used it twice himself. Emma Robinow thanked local resident Sarah Badger, Village Manager Johnnie Burns and Chief Burge for their aid in getting the project off the ground, and said she and the Odd Fellows are glad to have helped provide something useful for the community. The successful project, she added, highlights what the Odd Fellows can do for the village down the road.
“I think the Odd Fellows are happy and open to helping with future projects,” Emma Robinow said. “There’s a lot of resources and a lot of things I think we could do for the community. We may just need ideas or suggestions or people to join.”
The Odd Fellows Lodge #279 was established in the village in 1855, and has a longstanding mission of civic service. Local members — which, despite the group’s name, include women and men — meet on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, and the lodge funds scholarships and road clean-up projects annually. Those projects are funded by rental income from the lodge’s Xenia Avenue building, which houses both Sunrise Cafe and YS Pharmacy.
“We donate to the community, and it’s really important, I think, that we maintain our membership, because if the lodge ever folds, the building will revert to the state level lodge, and that resource that benefits Yellow Springs will disappear,” David Robinow said. “So we’re open to membership.”
He added: “I’ve been a member for almost 28 years now, and we’ve never rejected a potential member.”
For more information on Odd Fellows Lodge #279, go to http://www.ioofohio.org/yellowsprings279
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