• Please Remember: Members are only permitted to share their own experiences. Members are not qualified to give medical advice. Additionally, everyone manages their health differently. Please be respectful of other people's opinions about their own diabetes management.
  • We seem to be having technical difficulties with new user accounts. If you are trying to register please check your Spam or Junk folder for your confirmation email. If you still haven't received a confirmation email, please reach out to our support inbox: support.forum@diabetes.org.uk

Being wasteful

Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
A

AnnS

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
I have 2 blood testing devices I have never used. One Accu check one Optimum Neo. As I was going to the hospital I thought I would drop them in at the diabetes centre. When I got there I was told they could not take them. I was told to bring them home ,disassemble them and throw them away. The look of shock on my face must have been apparent. I know there must be protocols about hygiene etc but I thought they may have been useful for demonstration purposes. I have onle been type1 diabetic for 3yrs but in that time I have been astounded at the waste . I use a freestyle Libre monitor and each time I change it I feel so guilty of how much I have to throw away. Has no one come up with recycling for these products? This amount of costly waste cannot go on.
 
They don't have anything back, never have because they cannot guarantee it isn't contaminated with anything, can they?

If you walk out of a pharmacy, turn round and go back in and say 'these tablets aren't right' they treat what's in the bag which you haven't even touched, merely opened and looked in the sealed bag - like you're offering, well I would have said a bag full of the bubonic plague, but that's out of date now like me - they will NOT have em back. Just OTT really.

But thems the rules.

Tell the people that make the rules, cos the likes of us can't change them - and the rules were made for really sensible reasons, cross contamination and all that jazz.
 
You still need a meter when you use the Libre to monitor recovery from hypos. The Libre is at least 15 minutes behind a BG test, so it shouldn’t be used TW when BG levels are changing quickly. I always check my BG manually after just installing a new sensor, to check whether I can rely on it for the first day - they take a while to settle in.

You may not know this, but the test strips for your Optimum Neo will work just fine with your Libre reader, so you can use the reader as a plain old meter. I have some Optimum Neo ketone strips for that purpose. They work with an Optimum Neo meter, and the Libre and Libre 2 readers. So if you can get a prescription for strips for your Optimum Neo, they should last until their expiry date.
 
The Libre doesn't reflect my correct BG anyway - said I was hypo this morning and then rose to 4.5, which my meter said was over 6.0.

I had one for a week some years ago when they very first came out, before even available on the NHS - and exactly the same. This 6 month trial is due to expire in February so I'm just hoping I can get hold of the Libre 2 in time to try em, in the hope that they will be more accurate is all.

Hence, I can by no means rely on it and don't.
 
I have a meter to test bloods and ketone level. Will lobby makers to say they need to look at recycling. Too wasteful by half even if the plastic could be reused. Talk about throw away society. When they develop these products they should look at this aspect as part of the specification.
 
Are you a member of Facebook? There's a Type 1 Pay It Forward group you could try posting them on, people snap them up to have as spares etc xx
 
@AnnS I share your concern about waste.
I recycle as much as I can, I disassemble things to assist with recycling and minimise the contents of my sharps box (so it doesn't need to be collected as often) but there is still far too much diabetes waste that goes in the landfill waste.
I the grand scheme of "diabetes management" waste is (and should be) lower down the priority list than getting the right level of care to everyone and funding research but it would be nice if Diabetes UK could support a campaign to reduce waste - I assume they would have contacts to the manufacturers and suppliers.
 
What gets me is why does everything come with only single use applicators? Pump cannulas, Libre sensors, Dexcom sensors all come preloaded in a single use applicator which can’t be reset once it's triggered so that's a load of plastic in the bin each time. When we had Combo pumps we used the Flexlink cannulas which came with just a blue plastic cap on, you loaded the cannula into a reusable inserter (the cap would make sure it clicked in properly), inserted cannula, removed cap and attached tube, threw away only little cap and kept inserter for next time. If Roche can do it, why can’t everyone else?
 
If I was to dispose of any of my 5 meters, I would probably recycle them along with other electricals.

I was given an AREO 2K along with Libre as DSN said strips were cheaper, despite having an XCeed which I liked and used for years, and a NEO. But I will use up my XCeed strips first
I agree it's wasteful, but technology improves and uploading data to Libreview etc gives DSN consistent views of our data.
 
I feel guilty using prefilled disposable pens, made from defiantly non-recyclable plastic. Not my fault, but they will all end up in landfill. Including the recyclable glass insulin containers. And I’m a dedicated recycler.

It’s up to the manufacturers to do something about all this. It needs, I think, DUK to call them out. As Bruce says, the first to do it is on to a winner.
 
Hang on with the insulin cartridges - or vials - though @mikeyB - what about the rubber or is it plastic now? and metal caps on them?

I can put them all in my recycling bin (well if it's plastic I can, at least, not if it's rubber) but NOT if still joined to each other. As I do not have the tooling to remove the caps on vials of any size, I cannot undertake the task. I would be surprised if there even is such machinery frankly - though the insulin and other drug producers will all have suitable industrial machinery to apply the caps - under what circs would they ever need to remove them? Who would? (in sufficient quantity and frequency to warrant production of such a machine?)

(Metal Closures just down the road from my mom's produced metal 'lids' for all sorts of ruddy things from pop bottles to can't think of anything appropriately huge right now sorry, but anyway size and shape didn't really matter - given the specs, they'd quote for it usually, but neither the machinery to affix them nor remove them.)

I ruddy well HATE Flexpens and their ilk. Everything about them start to finish is detestable.
 
Status
This thread is now closed. Please contact Anna DUK, Ieva DUK or everydayupsanddowns if you would like it re-opened.
Back
Top