NATIONWIDE – Nationwide law enforcement agencies are setting up for Drug Take Back Day.

The Drug Enforcement Administration started the program to help people get rid of expired or unwanted medications properly.

As the country suffers from an opioid crisis, communities are doing their part to make sure certain drugs don't make it in the wrong hands.

According to the Center for Disease Control, 115 people die of an opioid overdose every day. In 2016, more than 40,000 people died from overdosing on opioids. Health officials believe that number is expected to rise.

The DEA has been collecting unwanted and expired medications twice a year for nearly a decade. They hope to keep people from disposing of medicine the wrong way, which includes flushing it down the toilet or throwing it in the trash eventually ending up in a landfill causing pollution.

Aside from saving the environment, law enforcement officials hope their Take Back Day will save more lives.

"There's a large amount of expired prescriptions out there that people don't know what to do with them. So, we've allowed a safe way to dispose of them. We take them and safely dispose of them, so they're not used and abused," said Travis County Lt. Charles Lanterman.

On the last drug take back day in October 2017, the DEA collected more than 900,000 pounds of unwanted medications nationwide. More than 60,000 pounds of the disposed medications were from Texas.

The next Drug Take Back Day is Saturday, April 28 and then again in October.