for 18 months, which is now before the city government. the mayor's office and department of environment have done work on that program and will provide information about it today that would create a drop-off opportunity at police department locations. district stations and some pharmacies, also. to make sure everyone has an effective hand in making sure this pilot works well, i introduced subsequently to the legislation last year that -- the opportunity of making sure that displays are created in drug stores so that people know where they can safely and lawfully dispose of unused prescription drugs. it is one of the key components of the pilot program that we continue after the pilot, based largely on outreach. the whole point of this is to make sure the citizenry of san francisco is as informed as

possible. what is before us today is legislation that creates what the protocol should be forced linage -- for signage in retail outlets that sell pharmaceuticals. my understanding from the department of environment and mayors' offices the pilot program would be delayed by two months, approximately. isolated initial implementation for july. due to staffing changes and resource challenges i am hearing from the mayor's office, they would like to start around september. this legislation was also timed around that same clock, for july implementation. i would be more than happy to amend our expectations so that it starts when the pilot program starts as well, if that is what is needed. i would love to hear from the mayor's office and the department of the environment so we can talk about the

legislation specifically and us moving this concept for. please. -- concept forward. please. >> thank you, the chair mirkarimi, supervisor campos, for the opportunity to speak. the mayor does support this legislation. i want to state that. as you mentioned, we have been working on a pilot. it has been a good stakeholder effort working with the corporate side, but also with the department, department of environment, puc, and the police department, and the mayor's office, to really look at how we work to create a program that works best for the city safely. so, department of environment can give a little bit of an update on where we are as far as specific surround the pilot program, if you would like. i think the importance of this legislation is, if we are making the effort to do a volunteer

pilot program, let's make sure we have a comprehensive outreach strategy. how do we educate consumers about where they have an option to dispose of pharmaceuticals? it must be done in a safe and legal way at no cost to them. this legislation is taking that step. i will invite up the department of environment to give more details and to talk about the process of how they create the materials that would go into these locations. supervisor mirkarimi: i just want to make sure that -- i spoke of length about this with the mayor as mayor lee was coming into office. we were discussing the concept of the pilot as opposed to pursuing this with legislation. we found common ground. on legislation, the mayor told me he was supportive of the signage displays. correct? >> that is correct. it is about looking at a

voluntary program. it is very important to have education and at point of sales. department of environment can speak to that further. that is where people buy their products. it makes sense that we showed them the opportunity of where they can dispose of products. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. appreciate it. department of environment, please? >> i am from the department of environment and i am here to shore support for this ordinance. i want to share with you our experience and plans for the pilot and demonstrate how that ties into this ordinance. as you noted, the ordinance that you brought forward last year did result in genetech providing $110,000 to our department to create a pilot program that will last about 18

months. we are in process of developing that. we have more than one dozen independent pharmacies that will serve as collection points. that is a great start for our first citywide collection program. a large portion of these funds will be used for outreach and education. we know from experience that the valuable outreaches in-store or at the point of sale. 90%, the first place they go to find out how to dispose of something as the place they purchased it. in this case, pharmacies. it is key that point of purchase be the primary component of our outreach, just as in-core pharmacy collection is the primary location for returning drugs. i want to show a few examples to demonstrate our experience in the past to do in-story

collection. you mentioned the program we did in 2006. for a weekend, we did collection at 13 walgreen's. we were not able to continue that program. we were not able to sustain funding. walgreen's worked with us to develop an outreach piece to distribute to people coming in after that collection period so they would have information on how to properly dispose of pharmaceuticals. this is an example of a point purchase. this is a tear-off pad at the counter. "how do i get rid of my pharmaceuticals?" this is what they would give them. at the time, we had a facility. i want to show you an example of how pharmacies have worked with

us in the past to develop something and distributed at their store. a more recent example was a poster we developed. they did permanent collection for some time. supervisor mirkarimi: a little bit of a player. >> i can also hold up. it is a small poster that goes in the window to demonstrate that they would be a collection point. we envision something similar. this will go through a public process. we will hold hearings at our office and get public input from affected retailers to develop something they will be happy with. it will not be a problem to develop something. supervisor mirkarimi: san mateo as a vibrant take-back program, but it is at a cost to the county. it is important for the pop republic to see what those depositories look like. -- important for the public to

see what those depositories look like. do you have that on hand? >> these are three different examples. supervisor mirkarimi: that is fine. it is almost like a red cross mailbox. >> they come in different sizes. we tend to have small stores. we will have them make custom to fit in the stores. these are few examples. san mateo on the left. supervisor mirkarimi: let me ask you something. where we are talking about citing these repositories for people to discard, five police stations, a number of independent pharmacies, are any of these being cited that the big-chain pharmacies? >> we have had great dialogue with you in the mayor's office, with industry, and other representatives of larger

chains, including walgreen's. at this time, they are not comfortable participating. we hope that after we are able to demonstrate -- we will provide guidelines for how to do this. we will demonstrate it is successful and hopefully they will do it in the future. supervisor mirkarimi: isn't it safe to say that a lot of medications are generated from safeway and walgreen's? >> we know because we partner with walgreen's on battery collection there are more than 60 walgreen stores and half a dozen safeways. that is where a lot of drugs are being sold. supervisor mirkarimi: i saw that it was well over 50% generated by consumers from the aggregate amount of those retail counters in san francisco. correct? >> that sounds reasonable. supervisor mirkarimi: ok.

i am going off into data. >> ok. supervisor mirkarimi: them on the signage itself, explain how it would work as it is related to our legislation and what our expectation would be of it. >> we would like it to be -- supervisor mirkarimi: this is very specific. >> we wanted to be identical for what we're doing for the pilot. we envision a small poster or a tear-off pad available in the window of the store so people walking by can see it, and then in the pharmacy itself. people walk up directly to ask about it. supervisor mirkarimi: i have had a little bit of experience with this. i offered the ban on plastic bags. i wanted to see volunteers with the industry, similar stores,

walgreen's, to provide signage to dissuade people from using the common plastic bag and you something else. we would find some of that signage buried behind "the national enquirer" or other magazines. that is my worry here. in a voluntary program, that very well may result in that situation. isn't that a valid concern? >> i think that makes sense. it should be in a prominent location. you allow for a two-month education time for us to go to the stores and insure they have the materials and they are in a prominent location. we will help to make that happen. supervisor mirkarimi: very good. about five years ago, i did signage for prop 65, on mercury poisoning. it was with the help of the

department of and burn. i'm not sure if you were part of the department back then yourself. that was also a template we used. it has become commonplace in san francisco. we borrowed from that signage in this legislation of what those protocols were. i don't know if you would want to speak about this. i want to ensure we are working from a basis of continuity, not something we are lifting out of a hat, in creating a sign that we're asking you to comply with, but without sound rationale. >> i did not work on that specifically. >> this is certainly consistent with past efforts. in a designated location, certainly, we will make sure it is visibly located. supervisor mirkarimi: with regard to the delayed implementation of the program

itself, my office received a request that this be amended to december 2011. >> you have an implementation date and then there is a two- month education period for us to go out and help them be in compliance. the enforcement date is two months later. we ask that the implementation be one month after the pilot begins. it begins in august, that will be september. two months later, it would begin in august, september, a month later as october. the enforcement they could be two months following that. we are saying one or two months longer for the pilot. we thought we would start in july. now we are thinking august or september. supervisor mirkarimi: i am ok with a one-time extension on this, but it could be a slippery slope when government starts making -- i want this to be as precise about our agreement

here, when we will move on implementation. by us passing legislation, it affirms our commitment that that is going to happen. >> we want to make sure we can meet your deadline. supervisor mirkarimi: we put this out here so we are committing to the public that this will be implementing for 2012. >> absolutely. supervisor mirkarimi: good. a predictor comment. supervisor campos: thank you very much, supervisor mirkarimi. i want to thank the supervisor for his leadership on this matter. also, his willingness to be very cooperative in his approach. i think you have gone out of your way to work with the industry. that is greatly appreciated. i do think this is an issue that needs to be addressed. it makes sense for san francisco to take steps that you are proposing.

i'm very happy to be supportive of this effort. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. i appreciate your assistance. very good. nothing from the department? we will open this up for public comment, please. >> thank you very much, supervisor mirkarimi. tim james from the california grocers association. some of us have pharmacies as part of services. we did send a letter to the committee. what we suggested to the committee to look at is that this point, looking at the opportunity to have this be a voluntary posting on behalf of grocery stores that do have pharmacies. it appears there's a little bit of levity to the time line. -- bit of fluidity to the time

line. we are asking to move with a little more speed on behalf of the grocery industry to partner with the department of environment in providing consumer information that you are asking them to have. we offered that as a suggestion. we're supporting the ordinance at this time. we're looking to be constructive. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you very much. next comment, please. >> ♪ keep your drug item open now safe will find a way you think you'll be safe now from all the things you might catch now keep your ideas open because safe drug disposal will find a way save drug will find a way ♪

and ♪ we need a new drug way one that will not make you nervous and will make you better everyday one that will not make you nervous wondering what to do safe disposal of drugs is what we want from you we need a new way one for every day one that will not make you nervous wondering what to do city hall, this is what we want from you ♪ supervisor mirkarimi: perhaps someone could employ walt to sing by one of the boxes. just a suggestion. next speaker, please. >> i am in support of this idea. i don't think there is really any firm opposition.

my concern is whether the city at this time, due to its budgetary problems, can really afford to staff a program like this. it goes back to the concept of needs and wants. it is obvious that this program is very worthy, but i think the city needs to concentrate on what it needs to do rather than what it wants to do. i feel that a lot of businesses are basically trying to survive and are probably hesitant to put manpower into something like this, even though technically they might be able to sell more goods for people to come into the store and drop-off old drugs. listening to the -- to the discussion right now, i came up with a common-sense idea i would like to present and see if it

makes any sense to everyone else. since the department of public health is in the health business, and since it does have an active educational program, maybe we could have the disposal sites at the different clinics and hospitals. when people go there for services or other educational programs, they could drop off the drugs. this way, it won't be a burden on private businesses. it will be not really a burden on the department of public health, but it is open for current services. having the drop box of general hospital or the other sites, i don't think, would be that much extra work for them. thank you. supervisor mirkarimi: next speaker, please. further public comment? comment?

relative to this issue. public comment for this particular issue. if there is no other further public comment, i will close it now. public comment is closed. if the department of environment could come back up, please? i want to address a couple things that were referenced. this is not coming from expense of our general fund or from the city. is that correct? >> it is the $110,000 grant. supervisor mirkarimi: the money to procure comes from the consortium pharma and genetech. we can clarify that for the general public. i want to review a little bit back. in the 2006 -- thank you for

reminding me -- 2006 effort, that did, with city response. >> it did. supervisor mirkarimi: how much of it was at the city's expense to collect the 1,000 pounds? >> you have my notes up there. probably $50,000. maybe up to $60,000 on public out for it. it is a large component of what you need to do to have many programs. we need to actually be at the sites for a few days. supervisor mirkarimi: you were able to expend those dollars for that program and leading up to that program after that was required for dollars procured from garbage rates. >> and waste water. supervisor mirkarimi: if that cost up to $60,000 for two days, it is a significant shift in our economic strategy, trying to make the private sector, the

industry, step up so that they can share in the solutions that we are trying to legislate here. right? >> it is what happens in canada and europe. supervisor mirkarimi: what is the industry standard in san francisco if people go to walgreen's or go to these stores and want to say, i want to get rid of these in a responsible way? how was that conducted? >> until your ago, there were no options offered by the industry. they now offer a male lawyer -- mailer that can be purchased. i believe it is $3.99 at walgreen's. it is $4.99 at kaiser. supervisor mirkarimi: they have to pay for that. >> they do. it is rather expensive. supervisor mirkarimi: if the city was providing those, what was the cost? >> $2.99. we were one of the first clients.

supervisor mirkarimi: right. >> this was a temporary measure because we did not have dropoff sites. supervisor mirkarimi: just to remind the public, when we had this less than a year ago, there really is nobody else in the united states that does this where it is corporate-funded. there is in canada. where is it in canada? >> several provinces. british columbia has the most robust program. they have been running it for 10 to 12 years. supervisor mirkarimi: it is a collective funding, right? both from their private sector, pharmaceutical companies, and is it from the government as well? >> there are different models. i believe british columbia is just manufacturers. there has been funding for a long time. we had to figure out what the cost of the ordinance was last year. supervisor mirkarimi: right. what kind of results do they see

in the community? >> very successful. they measure their results by public awareness. pharmaceuticals are tricky because you never know how many are out there. they measure their success based on awareness. the goals they have set for the industry, every year, the level has to increase by a certain amount. supervisor mirkarimi: yet in the geography of their population, we were looking at it closely, they are larger than us, but there is some real culpability in what they have done in reaching out, right? >> yes. manitoba is the new crop in starting it up. -- province starting it up. we have a program that is beginning right now with the help of the british columbia consultant that is more similar to san francisco in terms of size and population.

supervisor mirkarimi: very good. is there anything else we have not identified or recognized that you think we should about this? >> i think we have covered it all. i want to highlight we have had a positive experience working with retailers to develop materials for all kinds of things, batteries, lights. supervisor mirkarimi: it is about the federal government in terms of the law that has been put forth by the obama administration. it is supposed to signal some fluidity. perhaps local or state government can move forward with this. it is not entirely clear what comes out of this. supervisor mirkarimi: it is a small percentage of the drugs. pharmaceuticals are complicated. some of them are controlled substances. some are drugs with strict value. the fda does not want pharmacies or local governments sites to be in contact with that. they want that to be brought to law enforcement. that is why we have law-

enforcement site. we are hearing they will be going through the regulatory process, allowing that to take place under certain guidelines. it complicates this issue. pharmacies are really hoping to get drugs out of people's homes and off the streets. it helps the entire program. supervisor mirkarimi: if we are waiting for, and this is as much as we can get from the federal parliament, to devise construction to the industry as to how they can discard, but it does not cover as much as we would like, if the state government does not create law because it has been been resisted by the industry itself, doesn't it just deflect back to local government to try to determine how they are supposed to deal with this issue? >> right. there are guidelines on how to do collections. we know how to do it properly and in compliance. yes. funding will always be a challenge. i think it is amazing through

your mayor's office discussions that we have received funding from industry. we're the first city and state that has done this. supervisor mirkarimi: i have heard that. cities are struggling to deal with this issue. it is not the most crushing -- pressing issue, but it is a growing issue. >> it is something we are pressed on every single day and we don't have an answer. garbage companies. supervisor mirkarimi: i hear they are dealing with that in the regional government discussions that we have with our local partners. "we have nothing in place." they don't have the money to deal with it. getting cooperation from those who are not present here and others is important. good. >> it is a great first up. supervisor mirkarimi: great. i have no other questions or

comments. supervisor campos: i just wanted to first of all note that i believe i had asked to be a co- sponsor of the ordinance. if i could ask the clerk to please reflect that? thank you. it is my pleasure to be a co- sponsor to this effort. in terms of the comments from the industry, i think i understand the concern about any effort that is mandatory. i do think that at times, you have to draw the line somewhere. i think that this effort strikes the right balance between making this a requirement, but also working with the industry in making sure that whatever happens is not unduly burdensome. i think we're doing that. from my perspective, this

approach makes sense. i am happy to be supportive. supervisor mirkarimi: thank you. i would like to read into the record a couple of minor amendments. a motion that on page two, line five, it should be changed to " december 1, 2011." on page two, line 23, it should be changed to "october 1, 2011." on page three, line two, it should be changed to "december 1, 2011." seconded by supervisor campos. if we could take a vote now on the overall legislation? ok. without objection. very good. so move. thank you. thank you again to department of environment and the mayor's office and to industry. they take a special interest in this. we appreciate your cooperation