Freestyle Libre, applicator wastage

[TheClockworkDodo]

I don't think it does matter really. After all, at our pharmacy they are allowed to put patients full sharps boxes into the GP surgery 'sharps skip' which is a huge bright yellow one kept in a locked wooden structure outside the building so one assumes eg Biffa collect such skips from them and other GP surgeries and empty the skips into their vehicle then transport all the 'locked' bins to wherever the incinerator happens to be and since they require the dispensing label to be removed before they accept them from the patient nobody knows if it was mine, yours or the Queen of Shebas bin which was over full!

I was just thinking, in the context of the thread, that filling sharps bins to the very top means fewer sharps bins so less wastage/plastic useage, so I was wondering whether there was any other reason not to fill them up, other than the obvious one of possibly sticking our own fingers on our used sharps.

I don't remove my dispensing label either, but have never been asked to fill in any forms or dates or anything else, just hand them back.

 

[helli]

Next time you go to the supermarket in your car it might be instructive to reflect on the idea that the diesel or petrol burned to get there might have done less environmental harm if the oil from which it had been derived been turned into libre applicators. I often look at supermarket trolleys and am bemused by the notion that much of the volume of the goods in them will finish up in the rubbish bin. Even more bemused when the stuff is loaded into an enormous vehicle carrying one person a few miles.

I walk to the supermarket. The walk is my cardio exercise for the day and carrying the shopping back up the hill is my weights work out.
I understand that not everyone can do this but have wondered whether supermarket deliveries are more eco-friendly than the individual car journeys.

 

[rebrascora]

I keep wondering about yoking a horse up and driving him to the supermarket but who is going to look after him whilst I am inside doing my shopping and I dread to think of the trouble he would get up to if left unattended and the attention he would draw from kids and the risk of one of them getting too close and getting stood on or otherwise injured..... I just can't figure out the logistics of doing it safely, especially as my horses can be a bit "full of it" I wouldn't even leave one yoked up in an open area with a competent person holding them. It's a shame because I am sure it would be a good draw/publicity for my local supermarket.
I do wonder how environmentally sound it is having deliveries. The country lanes around here are now busy with supermarket delivery vans all the time whereas before they were pretty quiet. I think some people stopped and did their shopping on the way home from work so not so many special trips for groceries but now it is all delivery vans even at 11pm at night I see them. I am not convinced it is the best move or perhaps not environmentally effective in rural areas.

 

[trophywench]

Might well be more eco but the speed and distance either of us can walk these days are very limited plus the one we usually visit does not have pavement all the way to it even if we could. There used to be a cycle track but it's all overgrown now and anyway, ends abruptly just before the busy A road. City of Culture my foot.

 

[mikeyB]

Some of us don’t have an alternative to getting deliveries, not for the last four years at any rate. And in response to whether it is more eco-friendly, one driver in one van with fifteen deliveries is far better than fifteen cars doing one. And it’s cheaper - no impulse purchases.

 

[grovesy]

I was just thinking, in the context of the thread, that filling sharps bins to the very top means fewer sharps bins so less wastage/plastic useage, so I was wondering whether there was any other reason not to fill them up, other than the obvious one of possibly sticking our own fingers on our used sharps.

I don't remove my dispensing label either, but have never been asked to fill in any forms or dates or anything else, just hand them back.

You have to remember the majority of sharps bins are designed and used in medical settings with multiple users. So the risk of needle stick injury is very real.

 

[rayray119]

Anyone else as concerned as me about the plastic wastage of the applicator that comes with each sensor? I suspect the vast majority of these go into household waste, ending up in landfill. Being made of hard plastic they will never break down, or at least not for hundreds of years, if ever. I put mine into a bag of general stuff to take to a waste recycling center that accepts hard plastic items but I suspect not many folk do anything like this.

Wouldn't it be better to issue a user with one applicator for repeat usage, with the option of requesting a replacement if the original is lost or broken? This would help reduce plastic wastage, and surely reduce the cost of each sensor and therefore the cost burden on health authorities and those users who have to pay for their sensors privately.

aparetlly the freesytle libre 3 has less pacakeing

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

You have to remember the majority of sharps bins are designed and used in medical settings with multiple users. So the risk of needle stick injury is very real.

Yes, that's what I said in my original post about it, just wondering whether it matters if we're using our own ones in our own homes.

 

[rebrascora]

Yes, that's what I said in my original post about it, just wondering whether it matters if we're using our own ones in our own homes.

I want to know how you can tell how full it is? My needles are all mostly opaque plastic so it's really hard to see the level even when holding it to the light. Obviously I can see looking down through the insertion holes when I am getting close, but I like the idea of just filling it to the top because we are at no risk from our own needles. Makes a lot of sense.
When you guys talk about locking them shut, do you just mean double clicking them because it is perfectly possible to reopen mine even when the lid has been double clicked or am a missing something? I am still on my first Sharp safe after 2.5 years and should probably make it to 3, especially if I fill it above the level. The policy here is to leave them at the surgery but during Covid they stopped accepting them so I am not sure if we are now back to normal or there is a new policy.

As regards the original topic, I have compromised. I dismantle the applicator and put the lid which is a less hard plastic (and totally unsoiled) in the recycle bin with the metal spring from inside. I put the needles in the Sharpsafe and the rest of the applicator in household waste. I found that the inside of the white plastic quadripod insert bit was occasionally stained with blood whilst I was dismantling it, so decided that is wasn't appropriate for recycling due to that.
Not at all happy with how much hard plastic is ending up in the household waste but feel that we also have to consider other people who work in the recycling process.

I totally agree that more pressure should be put upon companies when developing products which are predominantly plastic, to reprocess or reduce the plastic required. I think it was very easy for reps to say that it can all be recycled when in practice this is not possible due to the risk of contamination/sharps etc. I suppose I could go so far as to save up all the bits after dismantling and wash them to remove any blood and then save them up and take them to the tip for recycling. I already feel like I spend half my life washing plastic food containers for recycling though. The whole process is demoralizing, especially when you see news items about those plastics being shipped to third world countries and dumped and that it is cheaper for product manufacturers to buy virgin plastic bottles than recycled.

 

[Lucyr]

What kind of sharps box do you have? There’s no way of opening mine once it’s locked shut.

 

[rebrascora]

What kind of sharps box do you have? There’s no way of opening mine once it’s locked shut.

"Sharpsguard yellow 1" is what it says on the side. I wonder if I will need to press the lid down more firmly still to engage the locking mechanism or if it is faulty or perhaps worn because I always close it after each use, rather than leave it with the lid open.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I think it sounds as though you are not shutting it as tightly as it will go, if you lean hard on the lid it will click very tightly shut and I don't think it will open again after that, though I've never tried - I presume that is what people mean by locked. I just leave mine open until they're full and then shut them tightly by leaning on them, I don't close them in between.

As for how to tell if they are full to the line, I don't know - I have often wondered how you are supposed to get it exactly right, because you can't really see properly. After my first one or two I have always just filled them up as far as they will go. My covered needles lock themselves anyway, so there's very little risk I will spike my own fingers, and if I do, it will only be on my own most recent sharps.

 

[nonethewiser]

Always filled them to top, never been told otherwise.

Hand bin in at gp surgery, have to sign prescription label before handover.

 

[Lucyr]

Always filled them to top, never been told otherwise.

Hand bin in at gp surgery, have to sign prescription label before handover.

Not sure that not overfilling them is something you should need to be told? There’s a line and instructions on the box

 

[nonethewiser]

Not sure that not overfilling them is something you should need to be told? There’s a line and instructions on the box

Done it from very first box never been issue with surgery so will continue, besides from environmental aspect cuts down on plastic usage.

 

[Lucyr]

Done it from very first box never been issue with surgery so will continue, besides from environmental aspect cuts down on plastic usage.

“Reduces plastic use” doesn’t make sense as a reason for overfilling, presumably if you’re overfilling you’re leaving the plastic needle caps on, as you’d risk pricking yourself otherwise. You’d use far less plastic sharps boxes if you take the needle caps off before putting in, and then if you don’t overfill the sharps box you’ll be able to use the needle removing tool on the top of the box to remove the used needles even when the box is nearing the top, without risk of pricking yourself.

 

[nonethewiser]

“Reduces plastic use” doesn’t make sense as a reason for overfilling, presumably if you’re overfilling you’re leaving the plastic needle caps on, as you’d risk pricking yourself otherwise. You’d use far less plastic sharps boxes if you take the needle caps off before putting in, and then if you don’t overfill the sharps box you’ll be able to use the needle removing tool on the top of the box to remove the used needles even when the box is nearing the top, without risk of pricking yourself.

Makes sense to me, shall carry on regardless.

 

[rebrascora]

I put the sleeve back on the needle but not the cap before I remove it and put it in the box. I don't use the tool on the box (tried to use it a couple of times and failed.... must be child proof ) to remove the needle so prefer to take it off by hand.

 

[Robin]

I put the sleeve back on the needle but not the cap before I remove it and put it in the box. I don't use the tool on the box (tried to use it a couple of times and failed.... must be child proof ) to remove the needle so prefer to take it off by hand.

I didn’t even realise there was a remover, I've just looked at my bin, and tried the obvious thing, which half unscrewed the needle then gave up and left it half threaded. I’m quite often not near my box when I inject (both basals I do in bed, at each end of the night, and sometimes I’m out) so I do as you do, and put the sleeve back on. I was told to put the whole plastic cap back on by the hospital DSN who trained me, but it seemed too much of a waste, and filled the bin too quickly, so I stopped.
My bin has a large flap under the opening, and when it is pushed fully down, it projects downwards to approximately the level of the fill line, so when it starts catching on the layer of needles and so won’t open fully, I swap my box.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I didn't know it was a remover either, until someone mentioned it here - I often wondered what the odd-shaped holes in the tops of the sharps bins were, I thought they must be for odd-shaped sharps 😳