Got a bunch of old medications gathering dust in your cabinets? The state has a new remedy, if towns will agree to cough up just a few hundred dollars.

The Department of Consumer Protection announced Thursday the launch of a statewide program that offers drug-disposal boxes to towns wishing to provide a safe way for residents to discard their old, unwanted medicines.

For a one-time fee of $500 to $600 to pay for the boxes, towns can use a drug-disposal program that proved effective during a pilot project conducted this summer in Fairfield County.

The program involves placing a locked drop-box in local police departments. No questions are asked or information collected during the drop-off procedure, but residents are asked not to place needles or liquid medications in the containers.

When the drop-box is filled, two police-office employees designate the medicine as abandoned property. Medications are then periodically destroyed through witnessed incineration at no cost to the towns.

"For safety's sake, communities need to provide residents with a way to get unwanted, unused medications out of their homes in a way that is secure and environmentally friendly," Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein said in a statement. "This option certainly meets those objectives, in addition to being efficient and low-cost."

The statewide medicine dropoff idea follows a successful pilot program that the Consumer Protection Department's drug control division started last July with the Lower Fairfield County Regional Action Council. More than 50 pounds of unwanted medications have been collected so far.

"This collaboration brought about a cost-effective, workable solution for the pilot communities, and now their outcome is available to any community that wants to move forward with it," Rubenstein said.

Towns can find out more about the drug drop-box program at www.ct.gov/dcp or by calling (860) 713-6065 or emailing drug.control@ct.gov.

l.howard@theday.com