Business briefing: Don’t flush old medications

The water company is working to keep unwanted medication from going down the toilet.

Illinois American Water is encouraging consumers to drop off their no longer needed pharmaceutical drugs at a number of collection points throughout the state this Saturday. This effort is part of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, a program designed to keep these drugs out of the state’s water supply and land fills. Flushing medications down the toilet and throwing them away in the trash are discouraged.

The event will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at metro-east police departments in Swansea, Fairview Heights, Maryville, Edwardsville, Roxana and Columbia. Collections will also be held at the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department, St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office and Madison County Sheriff’s Department.

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Unemployment applications have been rising but are still historically low. The Labor Department has reported weekly applications recently increased by 3,000 to 267,000, while the four-week average declined to 271,750. Read more here.

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Demand for U.S. manufactured goods fell last month by 2 percent after a 1.9 percent rise recorded in July. The Commerce Department reported that business investment was also down by 0.2 percent in August. Learn more here.

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The United States has surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia in oil production but still imports about 7 million barrels of crude oil each day. Find out more here.

— Will Buss, BND business writer

This story was originally published September 24, 2015 at 9:31 AM with the headline "Business briefing: Don’t flush old medications."