Can we recycle Glucoject needle outer coverings ?

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Robert459

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Type 1
Sent this to company... anyone got any information ?

Can we recycle Glucoject needle outer coverings ?

We use a lot and hate putting them in trash to go to landfill but do not want to contaminate recycling.

They have 4 parts:

Paper covering
Outer sheath
Needle covering
Needle

Obviously the needle goes into a sharps bin, but what of the others ?

Please let me know and maybe inform others, maybe Diabetes UK ?

Thanks and regards
 
I put the inner needle in the sharps box and the inner and outer plastic and paper covers in the bin. Interested to know if they are recyclable but since I couldn't see the logo on my box of needles anywhere I've assumed not.
 
Good luck with that - it says on my elderly box of Novofine pen needles
'Made by (company name) Thailand for Novo Nordisk Denmark'
Some years ago or pharmacist was invited to go to Malaysia to visit factories where products were made amongst which were BG test strips for various makes of BG meters, coming off side by side machines.
 
Hoping to (at least) get a reply. It's paper and plastic. Perhaps no room to put plastic type on the items but we should be advised on the box, how we are dispose of it. Will let you know if they respond.

Used to get BD needles (those felt better?) but I understand NHS needs to save money so just take what they give us

Update: They have acknowledged the email and say they will find out and respond. Maybe I should also ask the council.
 
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In my area, we have a single box to recycle plastic, paper and tin. These are sorted curb side.
I always recycle the paper cover of needles
I try to also recycle the plastic caps. Initially, I placed these directly into my recycling box and they were left by the gunmen as they are too fiddly to pick up/sort.
I now fill Glucotab/Lift tubs and they are now taken.

I do not have confirmation they are recycled.
 
I seem to remember @eggyg saying that the recycling centres do not like such small items as they jam the rollers or something? Apologies if it was someone else and I am misremembering.
 
Recycling centres also don't like items placed within items because they may need to be recycled separately. ie Not all plastics get recycled together. My local recycling instruction is to put plastic caps back on flattened drinks bottles etc which I am assuming prevents the issue with the small plastic parts clogging the machinery, so it may be that there isn't a solution with the needle caps. I am currently storing mine in a plastic supplement jar awaiting further knowledge on what to do with them, so will be interested to hear if you get a response.
I find it mind blowing that some councils do roadside sorting! We have a central unit for sorting but glass is collected separately from the paper, metal and plastic bin contents, so effectively we have 2 wheelie bins one for landfill waste and the other for recycle waste and then a box for glass jars and bottles but not drinking glasses which are a different type of glass and need to go into landfill apparently! Not sure about broken windows. Recycling seems to be such a complicated issue and everywhere has different rules which really doesn't help clarify the situation.
 
Well we can't send stuff for composting unless we pay £50 a year extra for the extra bin to be emptied, which they only collect fortnightly anyway same as the other bins. Pete as an ex printer, so does know quite a bit about paper generally, is fond of telling people you cannot recycle wet paper or cardboard.

So - have just put the plastic waste from today's pump consumables into the 'landfill' kitchen bin, same place as it always goes and so do both halves of the Libre and inserter along with the used sensor ..... also drove approx 200 miles in the last 12 months in two vehicles both of which use diesel in their engines.

Just wonderin, as you do, last night, of all these folk who have apparently bought caravans and mohos and tents, how many of them are 'green' - how many of em have an elec car capable of towing a large caravan to wherever on holiday?
 
silentsquirrel said:
I seem to remember @eggyg saying that the recycling centres do not like such small items as they jam the rollers or something? Apologies if it was someone else and I am misremembering.
Click to expand...
You’re correct, it was me. Little bits of plastic just go through the sorters apparently. I think the example they used was the little plastic bits from a new shirt. I just put mine in the sharps bin with the needle. It is annoying as I’ve been an avid recycler for well over thirty years, paper, glass and metal being the only thing we could recycle for many, many years. It might sound dramatic but the day our local council offered plastic recycling was like winning the lottery! I don’t think we need the plastic needle covering at all, it’s a bit overkill in my opinion. My previous needles never had them but my GP surgery has changed them to, I’m imagining, a cheaper brand and they have them on. It is a lot of plastic when you think how many needles we ( are supposed) to use a day. I don’t know what the answer is unfortunately. Hopefully you will get a response.
 
Living in Germany we recycle everything, we still even have a deposit on drinks plastic bottles, glass bottles and cans. There doesn’t seem to be any restrictions on the size of plastic materials we put in the plastic recycling bin, maybe they just have better machines for the sorting process
 
It’s a big problem here in the UK, with every Local Authority having different systems and different rules. (One area said you had to roll bits of foil together into a tennis sized ball. Same principle as the small bits of plastic, gumming up the machinery. Suffolk doesn’t take glasss bottles kerbside at all, we always end up looking for a public car park with a bottle bank in it). We stay in holiday cottages a few times a year, and the first thing I do is read the recycling rules, which the cottage owner always helpfully leave out. (second thing, I mean, first is to put the kettle on!)
Its always galling to sort my recycling according to local rules then go to the bins and find last weeks guests have just put everything, bottles, recycling, the lot, into the landfill bin.
 
Well I thought twice about continuing to apptempt to try separating my plastics, when seeing on TV in separate programmes, my council recycling bags ending up in Poland and Malaysia.
 
Not really an answer as we obviously bin the needle with either the big or small cover depending on sharps bin type. They seem to imply that all parts are contaminated. Never mind, to landfill then...

From: marketingsupport@menarinidiag.co.uk [mailto:marketingsupport@menarinidiag.co.uk] On Behalf Of myglucomen, A. Menarini Diagnostics UK
Sent: 24 June 2021 14:47
To: Robert
Subject: Re: Can we recycle Glucoject needle outer coverings ?

Once again thank you for getting in contact regarding this.

Unfortunately the needle and the casing cannot be recycled. This is because of the nature of how the needle is used. As it would be contaminated every part of the needle including the casing will need to be disposed of correctly in sharps waste.

Kind regards

Georgia
 
Seems a strange answer, I’m not really sure how the plastic caps can be contaminated or what with! I always put the plastic inner and outer caps in the normal bin not sharps bin, since they aren’t sharp, isn’t like I’ve stuck those plastic parts inside me or anything.
 
One thing I have been wondering: I assume sharps bins are incinerated as they are a form of medical waste, so is it better to put all the plastic from the needle in one so it gets destroyed, rather than putting it in a normal bin to get buried in the ground for a very long time?

Mind, supposedly none of my normal waste goes into landfill any more, but instead it all gets incinerated to produce electricity for 160,000 homes. Which worryingly makes it sounds like I generate too much waste.

But I follow the instructions and put the needle with the big cap in the sharps bin, so including the inner cap would just fit in the gaps rather than fill the bi more quickly.
 
Hello all!

I've just signed up to this board hoping to get an answer to this very question and I agree with Lucyr above that the response from Menarini Diagnostics UK seems not to have been thought through at all.

I could understand why they might be concerned with the small inner caps. I put those in the sharps bin along with the needle they are covering anyway.

But surely the outer cases are in no more danger of being contaminated than any other plastic that might be recycled.

Perhaps Tetracycle can be persuaded to add them to their great idea for blister pack recycling?
 
I wonder if it might be that a blanket announcement that the caps could be recycled might also involve those who replace the cap during the day (eg for a lunchtime needle) then remove the caps for recycling later, once there has been possible contamination?
 
As with other threads on this topic, it is not our responsibility to decide what we can and cannot recycle. It’s about time manufacturers were legally bound to take back any consumables that we buy that contain awkward plastic, particularly the Libre assembly. What do they do with the sensors that fail that are returned to them? They cannot even go in hard plastic recycling because of the embedded electronics.

It’s also about time that the disposable insulin pens I use were banned. I was quite happy with glass cartridges in a reusable pen. I can’t put disposable pens in the local recycling bins. Again, that responsibility lies with the manufacturer. The only responsibility on me is the needle disposal.

And it is perfectly possible to present needles without a plastic and paper cap if enclosed in cellophane and presented in a cardboard box. Cellophane is simply cellulose derived from wood, and is completely compostable. It’s what used to wrap boiled sweets, and still wraps cigars, flowers and gift wraps. It wraps cigars because it is slightly water permeable, but needles will take no harm from that. It was developed in 1900, and the main concern is the manufacturing of it, which produces carbon disulphide and is a deadly toxin. Nobody since 1900 has developed another process for extracting cellulose from wood, which is strange as it is such a useful material. You can buy rolls of cellophane sheets at many stores. I know Asda sell it.

It just takes a bit of imagination to get around the use of petrochemical plastics for everything we use.
 
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