Disposable syringe disposal.

August 5, 2011 10:16 AM

I control a chronic condition using regular, infrequent injections. I use disposable insulin syringes. But how do I actually dispose of them — safely, responsibly, and conveniently? My CVS pharmacist has not been helpful, and I've found various answers online. What's the authoritative best practice here?
posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (19 answers total)

I would ask around a bit more - this page from the EPA recommends a few different things: mailback program, checking with your local waste disposal service, home destruction of the sharps, etc.
posted by jquinby at 10:22 AM on August 5, 2011

have you tried asking your doctor or calling up the local public hospital? there should be a local disposal site (like at the hospital itself) - a lot of them also will provide you with a safe container for you to collect/transport/hand them over in.

you could also dispose of them by mail (i've never personally used this service).
posted by nadawi at 10:24 AM on August 5, 2011

You're probably finding different answers online because how you dispose of them will vary greatly on your location. You'll need a "home sharps container" to store them until you're ready to take them out to be disposed. Google that phrase for more options.
posted by devbrain at 10:25 AM on August 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

...and here are safe disposal recommendations on a state-by-state basis.
posted by jquinby at 10:25 AM on August 5, 2011

Your CVS store was unhelpful? That's dumb of them. You can buy mail-back sharps disposal containers on their website. (expensive though, huh?)
posted by gaspode at 10:27 AM on August 5, 2011

Best practice is that they go in a sharps container, which is then turned in to a place that disposes of them safely. In some areas, pharmacies do this. If yours is not such an area, call your local hospital and ask. If that fails, call your local health department.
posted by rtha at 10:27 AM on August 5, 2011

When I had to do injections, my mailorder pharmacy (CVS, actually) supplied me with sharps containers for free. Sometimes I just had to remind them to send me one. The instructions for disposal were to close up the container and put it in the trash. It further said that if it got full, I could use something else made from rigid plastic as a sharps container in the same way. That kind of surprised me, but that's what it said.
posted by statolith at 10:37 AM on August 5, 2011

If there's a needle exchange in your area (and if you support needle exchange, of course) I'm sure they'd really appreciate it if you'd bring your needles to them to dispose of. More people using their services will probably translate into better funding and support for them. They may also be able to provide you with free medical sharps containers, if you want.

Until you come up with somewhere to get a proper sharps disposal container, you want a HARD plastic container - detergent bottles are good for this, harder orange juice bottles, etc.
posted by Stacey at 10:41 AM on August 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

Alternately, if you live in a large metro area, there is likely a needle exchange at the local health department for use by addicts. Not the most pleasant place to pass the time, admittedly, but it's better than nothing.
posted by elizardbits at 10:41 AM on August 5, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is not very authoritative, but it works for me. I inject insulin twice a day. I clip the needles off with a Becton Dickinson brand needle clipper, break the plunger off, press the stub all the way into the syringe, replace both caps, and put the syringe in the household garbage. I live alone, so I don't have to worry about pets or children getting into the garbage, and once it goes to the curb, nobody ever handles it again. The needle clipper holds several hundred needles, and when it's full, it goes in the garbage.

The probability of anyone finding my used syringes AND opening one of them AND wounding himself with it is vanishingly small, and if it did happen, he wouldn't get any blood borne disease from it, because I don't have any.
posted by Bruce H. at 10:42 AM on August 5, 2011

In my county, the instructions for dealing with home-generated medical waste (including sharps) are as follows:

• Use a container with a screw-on cap such as an empty laundry detergent bottle, bleach bottle, or 2-liter soda bottle. The bottles must be able to be marked with a warning label using a felt-tipped marking pen. Note that the heavier duty laundry detergent and bleach bottles are preferred to the soda bottle.
• Label/Warning: Place a large label with a warning on the container. CAUTION! SYRINGES - NEEDLES. DO NOT RECYCLE!
• Clip the needle, or recap discarded sharps: Clip the needle if you wish. You can purchase an inexpensive hand-held needle clipper at a pharmacy. After clipping the needle, carefully place each of the used needles and syringes into the plastic bottle with the screw-on lid. An alternative is to also recap or re-sheathe the needle.
• Seal: After the container is full, seal the bottle with the original cap and wrap tape over the cap.
• Disposal: Dispose of the sealed, full container with your household trash. DO NOT place the container in the recycling bin.

That seems like pretty reasonable advice to me. If it were me, I'd use a bleach bottle and leave a bit of bleach in the bottom of the bottle before tossing stuff in there.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:53 AM on August 5, 2011

My city's solid waste website has instructions on how to dispose of sharps in the trash -- for our diabetic cat we use a soda or detergent bottle, tape the cap on, and mark it as "Sharps" (written on masking tape in several places on the bottle). Then it just goes in the regular trash.
You can check your locality's website to see if that's okay where you live -- definitely one of the easiest and fastest solutions to the issue.
posted by katemonster at 10:55 AM on August 5, 2011

I do monthly injections with a larger syringe, where I can take the needle off. I throw away the body of the syringe (in the garbage) and dispose of the needles separately. I've done sharps containers and the bottle with tape on it a la katemonster. I've also taken needles to the doctor's office with me and stuck them in the sharps container in the exam room.
posted by cabingirl at 11:22 AM on August 5, 2011

I'm in British Columbia and I have insulin dependent diabetes. My local Safeway supplies sharps containers for free and takes back the full ones for disposal.
posted by deborah at 12:13 PM on August 5, 2011

My veterinarian, when our cat needed shots, provided a sharps container and took it back for disposal. I think we paid a $5 fee when we swapped them out. (And they were HUGE, held a couple hundred of the needles.) Either the pharmacy or the original prescribing doctor should be able to help with this, or at least tell you where to go to do this.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:25 PM on August 5, 2011

Please look at the state by state guidelines linked above. In some states, such as California, it is not legal to put your sharps waste in the trash, even if the needles are clipped off, etc. You can, however, use the sharps mail back program to send your used syringes through the mail.

If you have a local syringe access program, they will take your used syringes and dispose of them for you, but please recognize that that is a cost to them, and that they are unlikely to be funded for disposing of your syringes, and please consider making a donation to them. More people using their services rarely actually translate into additional funding, in this day and age of massive public health cuts, if they were ever funded by your local health department. Instead they just have to make limited resources go further.

- signed, your syringe access program volunteer
posted by gingerbeer at 1:48 PM on August 5, 2011 [2 favorites]

Which I guess just goes to show that it depends on the needle exchange program! Where I volunteer, we would really want you to bring them to us, even though it is an additional cost. Though we'd certainly love it if you'd donate as well.

So, maybe call up your local exchange and ask them for advice - if they want you to use their services I'm sure they'll tell you, and if not, they may be able to point you in the right direction locally.

Good luck!
posted by Stacey at 3:12 PM on August 5, 2011

I work in a dental office and our hazardous waste monthly pick-up bin(smallest bin available too) is usually only a tenth full. It's a flat rate for pick-up, so we usually have room for a lot more. I give my M-I-L an official sharps waste container for her home and I bring it in to my office every few months or so. Perhaps your dentist would be willing to take them if it's safely contained.
posted by Jazz Hands at 4:40 PM on August 5, 2011

I'm pretty sure I've seen sharps disposal containers in public bathrooms in airports, etc. Only practical if you really don't accumulate them very fast, I guess.
posted by lakeroon at 8:06 PM on August 5, 2011