Correct disposal of bulky Inset II waste?

[LorraineP]

I've managed to fill the two 1 litre Sharps boxes I get on prescription in just 2 weeks because of the large Inset II canisters. I find the 1 litre boxes have an opening that's too small to drop the whole Inset canister into so I take the lid off the canister and squeeze it in. But I can only get 3 - 4 waste canisters in each box.

Simple solution, I would buy a large Sharps box with a suitable opening and I found an 11.5 litre Daniels Sharpsguard box online at a good price. I checked first with my usual pharmacy re accepting the box for disposal but computer said no. I phoned my local council and computer said no. I phoned my GP surgery and computer said no. I phoned my diabetic clinic and computer said "we think" you can dispose of the used canisters in the ordinary bin as long as the lid is on it.

Now, I'm no expert on disposal of medical waste but surely not?

The diabetic clinic is checking this out for me (surely the hospital has a medical disposal company with a licence to dispose of large sharps boxes?) and I'm waiting for their reply. It's not an urgent matter and they're very busy so it may be some time before I hear back.

In the meantime I bought an ordinary plastic bin solely for Inset bits until I know what to do with the waste. But I'm interested to know how everyone else deals with the bulky Inset waste. I suppose I could extract the needle from the Inset canister with pliers but I'm not keen to do that unless I have to. Has anyone else done that and is there much resistance when pulling the needle out? Maybe your Trust and your council have different rules?

 

[SB2015]

I was offered a weekly collection of sharps bin if necessary, so is this something you could do? I use up a 1 litre rarely as I now cut off tubing and stuff from the needley bits and only put in needles, but I suspect that my Roche Accu Chek has less bulky bits. I hope that you get it sorted.

 

[Pumper_Sue]

The inset11's are self contained sharp bins you do not need to put them in another sharps bin, just put them in the ordinary household waste. All that needs to go in the sharps bin is the needle from filling the cartridge and your lancet from your finger poker.

 

[grovesy]

I think when the disposal of sharps boxes has been discussed before like everything else it varies around the country!

 

[LorraineP]

Hi there I found out that there's such a thing as a needle clipper which the hospital will give me. That means I can just clip off the needle put it in the sharps bin and put the rest in normal household rubbish. Easy when you know how!

 

[Sugarloopy]

The Inset II looks similar to the Medtronics Mio, which I use. When disposing of the Mio I pull the needle out with a pair of pliers (putting the needle in the sharps box) and place the plastic waste in the recycle.

 

[trophywench]

I'm not going to that palaver ! If they expect me to do it, let them also supply the correct size of needle nosed pliers - cos I'll be buggered if I'm sourcing a special pair meself.