As highlighted by the EPA in the article “Community Options for Safe Needle Disposal,” more than 8 million Americans generate over 3 billion sharps annually to manage medical conditions at home. However, the lack of standardized disposal regulations for self-injectors can lead to unsafe practices, increasing risks for sanitation workers, children, pets, and the broader community. Improper sharps disposal can result in painful injuries and the potential transmission of serious diseases like HIV or Hepatitis B and C.
Communities can mitigate these risks by implementing safe disposal options, such as:
- Drop-off collection sites: Accepting sharps containers at health facilities, pharmacies, or community organizations.
- Household hazardous waste sites: Providing sharps collection bins at designated municipal sites.
- Residential special waste pickup services: Offering regular or on-call pickups of sharps containers by trained handlers.
- Mail-back programs: Allowing sharps to be mailed in special containers to authorized disposal sites.
- Syringe exchange programs: Facilitating safe exchanges of used needles for new ones.
- Home needle destruction devices: Providing tools to safely disable needles before disposal.
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Article with all rights reserved, courtesy of EPA.