Libre sensor applicators

[hurricane_jack]

Recently got the Libre Sensor. Just wondering if the applicators are recyclable?

Or do they just go in with general waste?

Wasn't mentioned when I got it.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I doubt even the plastic bits (which is almost all of it) is recyclable. One half (the half with a spring in it) has a pin which is the bit that goes into your skin so that (at least) needs to go into your sharps container. (We were advised that it all should go into the sharps container (and that Dexcom and others had made sure that was required) but I suspect it's really just the pin and the sensor itself once it's used.)

 

[hurricane_jack]

Yeah I obviously put the sensor itself in the sharps box, just seems like a lot of plastic to throw away for the other parts!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

just seems like a lot of plastic to throw away for the other parts!

Yes, but it's almost surely a mixture of plastics (making it not something our usual recyclers could use) and there's metal in one part (a spring and the pin itself which penetrates the skin (so is a sharp)). I agree it doesn't feel good to do this: I'd much rather a reusable applicator, for example (or maybe one you could use 10 times or something) but that's (for the moment) not how it is.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

The sensor isnt sharp, and contains a battery, so as I understand it should not go into the sharps bin, as sharps are incinerated and there’s an explosion risk.

The applicator section with the sharp is too big for my sharps bin, so I take it apart and pull out the applicator needle for the sharps bin, then put the rest in the bin, apart from the clear section that looks recyclable according to our local rules.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

The sensor isnt sharp, and contains a battery, so as I understand it should not go into the sharps bin, as sharps are incinerated and there’s an explosion risk.

It's only a tiny battery so I suspect the explosion risk is minimal! A quick google search suggests at least some advice that it should go into the sharps container (not because it's sharp, but because it's medical waste). For example, http://www.londonscn.nhs.uk/wp-cont...linical-waste-disposal-from-abbott-040618.pdf

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thanks @Bruce Stephens

Around and round we go. I always used to put them in sharps, and cant remember where the recommendation for not sharps came from - I thought is was Abbott, but typically I can‘t find it now. And yes, i agree abiut the minimal explosion risk. But that was what was mentioned. I remember it because it made me smile.

And you are right, many links do suggest disposing used sensors in biohazard/sharps bin for ‘contamination’ reasons.

But this raises the age old question about test strips. And whether there is a material difference between them and plasters. And where to draw the line about things ‘contaminated with blood or bodily fluid‘. Its a minefield!

 

[freesia]

I understood that the blue part went into the sharpd bin and the rest could be recycled. Thats what i was told when i had the training.

 

[mikeyB]

I just dump everything in the bin, to be honest. Though I do screw things together. Clinical waste? So there’s a risk of infection after it’s been in a pile of stinking rubbish? Gosh, terrible danger. The cardboard pack goes in the recycling. None of the plastic bits are recyclable locally. And you would really have to struggle to injure yourself on the tiny hidden needle, in which case you shouldn’t be allowed outside of the asylum.

Bet you don’t put used Elastoplast in the clinical waste. Nobody normal does, anyway. (By that I mean non diabetic).

 

[Bruce Stephens]

But this raises the age old question about test strips. And whether there is a material difference between them and plasters. And where to draw the line about things ‘contaminated with blood or bodily fluid‘. Its a minefield!

Agreed, I doubt there's any scientific reason for this. As you note, the sensor's not much different to test strips, and while I'm sure in a hospital they're medical waste I think everyone expects us to dispose of them as household waste.

During the training the DSN said that these things had to go in sharps (and they arranged for a large container to be added to our repeat prescriptions) and strongly implied that this was the result of a company complaining. So my guess is that the parts from another CGM company (presumably Dexcom) were required to be disposed of specially for some reason (or maybe for no good reason) and so the Libre stuff now has to be disposed of similarly.

But it all seems rather silly. I could imagine it being worthwhile handling some of this specially to reduce how much stuff ends up in landfill (maybe in order to remove the batteries, though they're tiny) but the sensor itself is pretty small and pretty obviously safe. A lancet or a needle isn't something that ought to be in general waste, but used test strips and sensors aren't going to be any risk. (Well, unless someone licked them or something, but lots of household waste is dangerous to that standard.)

 

[Ljc]

I put the opaque cover and cardboard box in the recycling the rest goes in the rubbish

 

[trophywench]

Well exactly - I don't put used cannulas in the sharps bin though they're absolutely clinical waste, neither do I finished Fastclix drums. Like Mike I use each lancet several times so they're usually blunt as anything when I judge them finished anyway.