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June 8, 2008, 9:45 am
Flag as Inappropriate skatss  

A few weeks ago we had a discussion about how to throw pills away here and I thought that the subject of how to throw away needles, that diabetics and other people use, might also be discussed.

Years ago, when my household had needles that needed to be thrown away, there was very little we could do with them. We were told to break apart the inside plunger of the needle and try and break the needle. All of that was to make sure that no addict could reuse the needle. This was before AIDS and so no one even thought about blood contamination.

But that is the real problem in trashing needles nowadays. Putting syringes in your trash can pose a health risk to the people who handle your garbage.

The really strange thing is that there are no laws that require you to throw away your used syringes in any special way! But rest assured, if you don't do a good job of making sure the syringes can't hurt anyone, you can get into lots of trouble.

The companies that make insulin syringes also make containers that allow you to dispose of syringes safely. Unfortunately, these containers are often expensive and hard to find.

But there is a way that I safely throw my needles away. First I use a clipper that removes the needle and stores in inside a little place inside the cutter, so it's never touched. Then I always keep an empty laundry detergent, thick, plastic bottle that has a tight lid after it's empty. In fact I make sure to use a liquid detergent just to have the bottle to use to throw away needles.

I take the syringe apart and break the plunger. Then I fill the bottle with all the parts of the syringe and put the cover on tightly. Then I take strong mailing tape and tightly wrap the lid and tape it closed. By the time I am finished making it secure, no one could ever get into that bottle!

Later, when the clipper is filled with the sharp needles, I tape it shut, so it can't easily be opened and throw that out.

It takes quite a bit of work to throw the needles out that way. I need to store the used needles in my home in a safe and secure place until I throw them into the trash and I need to buy detergent for the thick plastic bottle it comes in, but it's worth it to make sure that no one else is ever harmed by my used needles.

we used an old metal coffee can. and when my husband had a burn pile going we woudl toss them in. they'd burn and all you have left is the recyclable can.

I got afree sharps container. But we still empty it and burn the syringes.

julie

I've seen folks use a small sharps container and then take them to their local clinic, lab, etc. and many times they will take them and dispose of them. Just putting them in the normal trash seems like a very bad idea as they should go with other medical waste.

George

I've always taken my used needles from vaccinating my pets to the local medical clinic. Putting them in a laundry detergent bottle (which is most likely recycled at some point-check with your trash removal company) could cause the same problem as throwing them away as is. They normally "chip" the bottles before washing and melting.

That is very creative using your detergent bottles that way and since detergent bottles are not always recyclable and since they would not attempt to recycle it if it was wrapped in tape that sounds like it is very effective.

I was told by the DE to put them in an empty detergent container. When it is full then pour in bleach until it is full.

Empty the bleach, then use duct tape to seal shut and write medical waste on the outside of the container so it won't be opened.

Would you not risk the bottle expanding quite a bit from the bleach fumes that are left in the container?? Or would that not make a difference?

I dont have any needles. Why we need needle at home?