The 10th National Take Back Day drug collection event has been scheduled for 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 12.

Lehigh County residents can take expired and unused prescription and over-the-counter medications to police departments and other locations at eight sites in Lehigh County. They can dispose of capsules, pills - including pet medications - and liquids. Syringes or sharps will not be accepted.

Residents who dispose of medications will remain anonymous, as has been the case in the last nine collections, and no questions will be asked.

The event is being coordinated by the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office, area police departments, the Allentown Health Bureau and the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration.

The police departments with year-round collection boxes are Catasauqua, 118 Bridge St.; Allentown, (substation), 1005 W. Hamilton St.; Bethlehem, 10 E. Church St.; Emmaus, 400 Jubilee St.; Slatington, 125 S. Walnut St.; Upper Saucon Township, 5500 Camp Meeting Road; South Whitehall, 4444 Walbert Ave.; Upper Macungie Township, 37 Grim Road; Whitehall Township, 3731 Lehigh St.; Salisbury Township, 3000 S. Pike Ave.; Coplay Police Department, (lobby of Coplay Borough Building), 98 S. Fourth St.; and Coopersburg Police Department, 5 N. Main St.

To check the hours and days of operation at those sites, call the police departments or go to lehighcounty.org and the District Attorney’s Office pages. Click on the link on the left called, “Permanent Medication Collection Box List of Sites.”

“From a public safety and health standpoint, it is important that residents not keep accumulations of medications in their homes,” Lehigh County District Attorney James Martin said. “Prescription drugs that can be abused by teens and adults should be routinely discarded.”

Martin also said that some of the most commonly abused prescription drugs in the county are painkillers that contain hydrocodone, such as Vicodin and Percocet; oxycodone, such as Oxycontin; anti-depressants, such as Lorazepam (Ativan) and Alprazolam (Xanax); and stimulant prescription drugs, such as Ritalin and Aderall.

Studies have shown that nearly one-third of people age 12 and older who used drugs for the first time began by using a prescription drug nonmedically. In addition, one in four teens have misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in his or her lifetime, he added.

The Drug Enforcement Administration personnel takes the drugs to an incinerator where they are burned.

Medications will be collected at the following locations on Sept. 12:

Catasauqua Police Department, 118 Bridge St.

Emmaus Police Department, 400 Jubilee St.

South Mall (Central Court), 3300 Lehigh St., Salisbury Township

Giant Supermarket, 3015 W. Emmaus Ave., Allentown

Upper Saucon Township Police Department, 5500 Camp Meeting Road, Center Valley

South Whitehall Township Police Department, 4444 Walbert Ave., (main entrance to the police department is at the back of the municipal building on the lower level)

Fountain Hill Police Department, 941 Long St., Fountain Hill

Westgate Mall, (main entrance), 2285 Schoenersville Road, Bethlehem