Lehigh County residents who have expired and unused over-the-counter and prescription medications will be able to discard those medications in permanent collection boxes.

The MedReturn boxes, which are similar to mail boxes, have been delivered to 10 Lehigh County police departments, including Whitehall and Catasauqua.

Hours are 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday for the box at the Catasauqua Police Department, 118 Bridge St. Hours will be expanded after a new station is built and opens in 2015.

At the Whitehall Township Police Department, 3731 Lehigh St., medications can be dropped off 7 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday by appointment with Officer Paul Davis. He can be reached at 610-437-3042 ext. 223.

The boxes, which usually cost about $500, were purchased through a grant made possible by a partnership among the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association, the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs and the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency as part of Gov. Tom Corbett's Healthy Pennsylvania Initiative.

Lehigh County District Attorney James B. Martin and members of his staff worked with police chiefs to select departments throughout the county in order to provide numerous locations for county residents.

Martin announced the collection box program at a news conference Dec. 17.

"County residents have responded enthusiastically to the twice-yearly drug collections," said Martin. "Because of that positive response to the National Take Back Day collections that have been held since 2010, I wanted to ensure that residents could take medications to drop-off locations on a more timely basis ... Residents will not have to wait six months or more for the next collection."

Martin said the boxes represent a public safety and health initiative because residents won't have accumulations of medications in their homes.

"These medications often include prescription drugs that are abused by teens and adults," he said.

Martin said that the nature of the prescription drug abuse problem in Lehigh County has become more defined over the last several years.

As of June 30, a total of 18 deaths were ruled accidents and two were determined to be suicides, according to statistics compiled by Coronoer Scott M. Grim. In 2012, the numbers were 66 accidents, 11 suicides and two undetermined deaths.

The statistic for "accidents" includes people who died from overdoses on painkillers, anti-depressants, other prescription drugs, heroin and, many times, a combination of drugs. These cases include people who have gotten out of rehabilitation facilities and relapsed.

The Lehigh County Regional Intelligence and Investigation Center analyzed crime statistics from Jan. 1, 2010, to Sept. 1, 2013, to determine how many crimes were related to prescription drug use and abuse. A sampling determined that 162 police incidents took place in that category. That number does not even include the City of Allentown, whose officer reports of such incidents are not searchable.

Burglary, drug investigations, fraud and theft topped the list of crimes in which prescription drugs were involved.

Martin said that in addition to enhancing public safety and promoting the health of residents, the boxes help to reduce environmental risks because they give residents an alternative to discarding medications in landfills or in drains where they can end up in the water supply.