Magic!

[loracs]

How do you make a bag of syringe needles disappear legally?



With the nifty BD Safe-Clip Needle Clipping & Storage Device.  See that little hole on the end opposite my fingers?

 

Put the needle in that hole and squeeze the end I'm holding.

 

And presto-chango, you have a de-needled syringe!  Since the laws changed  on how to handle needle disposal, I've been collecting them in a zip lock bag and it was overflowing.  Now I can throw the syringes in the garbage - they are only used for insulin and copaxone injections - no blood draws.  The mighty little device will hold 1500 needles before I have to send it to a medical disposal facility. 
And the final best thing about it, I got two of them for $15.00 including shipping.  YAY!

Comments

[firecat]

I have the impression that de-needled syringes are still illegal to throw in the garbage. Have you got different information?

[loracs.livejournal.com]

I understood as long as there was no blood product possible in the syringe, then it was regular garbage. If you are using the syringe for blood draw, then the entire syringe with needle is hazardous medical waste. I'm too tired to try and track it down now, but I really hope this is true. When I had Blue Cross, the pharmacy I used would take the sharps container and dispose of it at no charge. Kaiser doesn't deal with it at all. When I first started using insulin, the nurse educator said to put them in a bleach bottle and poor in some plaster mix and water. Put the lid on tight and shake it up. Then you could put it in the regular garbage.

[firecat]

I have a big sharps container with a prepaid mailing box. It's expensive but it should last a year or two. I think sharpsinc.com is where I got it, but there are a few other choices.

[serenejournal.livejournal.com]

That is so nifty!

[tracytreefrog.livejournal.com]

Very Cool!

[clever-doberman.livejournal.com]

so, you never see the needles again, yes?

fuckers should provide those and then dispose of them for you. but this is such an improvement. what about the little poking needles for drawing blood for testing?

can you stick the syringes into the recycling? I would guess not, since they are of mixed materials. too bad.

and what they do to sharps containers is burn them. so much for the environment with that burning plastic.

[loracs.livejournal.com]

Yep, it's a one way trip for the needles. And you can use this to clip the needles off the lancets too. I understand all of the HMO's and most of the PPO's expect patients to handle their own disposal, which now means you have to pay to have them dealt with legally. At least I only have to pay for the little needle container and at 1500 needles per it will be about 2 years before I have to do it. Plus they are so small I'll probably just keep it in my drawer and use the other one until it's filled up, then I can dispose of both of them at once. Four years without having to worry about dealing with them. I've been looking at this big giant bag of syringes get larger and larger each night for about a year now, so I'm very happy if this all works out.

And why aren't you in bed young lady?!