Sharps Containers?

[Arch]

In my neck of the woods, the city recycling site sends me on a wild goose chase until I finally conclude that the only option is the appointment-only, Saturday-only hazardous waste drop-off at the dump. (There is a fee to recycle other stuff, so I have no doubt that medical waste is the same.)

The web page for that does NOT list medical waste or sharps containers, but the pages that direct me there do. Go figure. Anyway, I highly resent the runaround, and I much prefer to do my business on Fridays, when I am actually out running errands. So I stack up the containers at home and will continue to do so until desperation sets in.

[overdrive]

In my state, its legal to put a sharps container in the trash as long as its properly sealed. I dont use a full sharps container with syringe and all, I instead use a needle clipper (http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7002&id=7416) then once its full I dispose of that by taping it and throwing it in the trash as per my state requirements. Read about your local requirements before attempting to dispose of sharps in the trash, dump, etc as not all states are the same.

[blink]

I instead use a needle clipper (http://www.bd.com/us/diabetes/page.aspx?cat=7002&id=7416)

Mind if I ask, are you using a needle within the listed range for the clipper (28 to 31 gauge) or does it clip larger than it says?

[overdrive]

Mind if I ask, are you using a needle within the listed range for the clipper (28 to 31 gauge) or does it clip larger than it says?

I'm currently using 23g - 1.5 inch long, and it clips through them no problem. One thing I will mention is the length of the needle will require more than one snip otherwise the piece is too long to fit in the storage portion of the clipper, took me a while to figure that one out. So push the needle into the clipper as far as you can then back it out about a cm, then clip. If you accidentally clip a piece too long you can use the next piece of your needle and use it to dig the stuck piece out, kinda tedious but it works. Once you've clipped a couple though you get the idea and wont make that mistake more than once  . So if you are using 1.5 in needle, you need to clip it 3x. If you're using a 1 inch needle you need to clip it in 2 pieces. Pretty minor thing IMHO for the luxury of a much much smaller and more convenient sharps container. Easier for airline travel to use one of these as well.

If you live in the USA, they sell these over the counter at Wallmart next to the alcohol wipes for about $4.

[blink]

Awesome, good to hear the only issue is having to clip in more than one piece, which sounds like no big deal. Thanks for the helpful info.