Sharps Disposal

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I’ve blogged about this before, but a conversation came up today and it’s been rolling in my head for a while after reading someone else’s blog entry.

One thing that was covered in my diabetes training, but something I’m not sure diabetics think a lot about is Sharps Disposal. However, what I was taught in diabetes training is wrong for my community and it might be an issue for yours.

I was taught to do one of two things:

Buy a sharps container — which was my choice, because it was quick and easy.

Take an old laundry soap container, soak off the label and mark it sharps with a “sharpie” pen. When finished, tape the lid down.

Well neither works where I live. I got a cryptic note from the city the two times I put a sharps container in the trash, and when I finally figured out what was going on, I called. Come to find out, one of our city workers was injured because our city grinds up the trash. Okay, I don’t really get it, but the gist is, we can’t dispose of sharps in trash in my community. You might be able to in yours.

They thought that the local hospital would deal with it, but they won’t. I did find a guy that hauls sharps for the local doctors who said he’d take them at no charge but it’s a bit out of the way.

So here’s the solution I use:

You either contact your pharmacy and order a BD Sharps by Mail kit OR you can order them from an outfit online. The NDC number for the BC Sharps by Mail kid is 08290323488. If you give that number to your pharmacist, they can order it.

I really like these people though, because they have quart containers I can stash in various places: http://www.sharpsdisposal.com/

And everything we stick ourselves with is a sharp. Lancelets, syringes, pen needles and even the inseration part of sets. Though the Inset is designed to be disposed in regular trash and I haven’t gotten a nasty note about them.

Comments

5 responses to “Sharps Disposal”

July 13, 2005

David Mendosa

There is still one more option. Please see my new article, http://www.mendosa.com/disintegrator.htm

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July 14, 2005

bytehead

Luckily for me, the county health department gives me free sharps containers, and they dispose of them for me. Just give them a full container, and they send me home with a new empty one. Now I’m only using lancets, so it’s probably going to take quite some time for me to fill a container.
I live in Florida, FWIW.

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July 22, 2005

Anonymous

I spend enough $ on diabetes supplies without buying a special container for sharps. I just grab a used clear soda bottle with a screw-on lid. I put my syringes and lancets in it. When it is full, I drop it off at the hospital. I do not make a special trip. I wait until I’m going to the hospital for a test. Then I drop it off. This keeps used sharps away from people’s fingers. The hospital incinerates tons of medical waste every week, so I need never worry about other people’s fingers.

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August 5, 2005

NICK

before you evaluate this and edit, this is for a new type of needle disposal unit called the disintegrator, you simply put the needle in a tiny little whole and press a button and the needle is melted along with all the pathogens and seals the needle, and then can be thrown in the trash, Its FDA recommended, and its in the process of getting medicare approval, the bill is HR2841 or you can check it out at disintegratorproducts.com

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January 19, 2007

Leo

How to provide quality pharmacy and health information to empower consumers to make better informed healthcare decisions? WBR LeoP

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