Sharps bin disposal

[SianyBee]

Hi everyone, so I contacted the local council waste disposal team and got the told to go back to my doctors and tell them they need to take them and if not I have to put my sealed yellow boxes in my regular waste bin! Not a clue what I am supposed to do about getting new yellow bins all the time now though?? My surgery refuse to take them or replace them . Any ideas please?

 

[Pumper_Sue]

Hi everyone, so I contacted the local council waste disposal team and got the told to go back to my doctors and tell them they need to take them and if not I have to put my sealed yellow boxes in my regular waste bin! Not a clue what I am supposed to do about getting new yellow bins all the time now though?? My surgery refuse to take them or replace them . Any ideas please?

They cost less than two quid to buy I think so either get one on line or ask at your local pharmacy.
Have you contacted your ccg? If not do so.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Any ideas please?

Well, if the council don't deal with them then I guess your GP ought to be prescribing them. (I have one on my repeat prescription so I imagine they're on the list so can be prescribed.)

(They're also pretty cheap to buy.)

 

[SianyBee]

Thanks but I despise plastic waste! I recycle everything so this frustrates me a lot that they cannot be reused

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I recycle everything so this frustrates me a lot that they cannot be reused

Unfortunately that's pretty much the point of them!

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Unfortunately that's pretty much the point of them!

I guess I could imagine hospitals (or other places) having big containers, and we could then empty our much smaller ones into those and then reuse them. (Similarly where councils collect them they could do the emptying, leaving the empty ones behind.) I guess there's too much risk in that for the people doing the work?

Or (just as likely) this was all designed before we cared so much about recycling and they came up with this neat solution of non-reusable plastic containers which nicely seal in the contaminated pointy things. And nobody's gone to the effort of rethinking it all yet.

 

[rebrascora]

I would want it in writing/email from whoever you spoke to at the council in waste disposal that you have to put it in your household waste because I believe that is contrary to regulations and could potentially leave you open to legal proceedings. Not saying that is likely to happen but clinical sharps absolutely should not be going into household waste. They should be incinerated. I know my SharpSafe has a prescription sticker with my name on it so it would be easy to identify me as the source if it was found in household waste by a "jobsworth". Of course you could peel off the sticker but that would just make it more apparent that you knew what you were doing was not legitimate. There are odd occasions when household waste has to be searched quite intensively for evidence of crime etc and it is hazardous enough without sharps going in there and the boxes will end up crushed by the huge machines which work at such sites potentially releasing their contents.

 

[helli]

Until I got a pump (about 5 years ago), I had not considered using a sharps container. I was initially told to put my needles in a drinks bottle and put it in the household waste. I found fabric softener bottles a bit more substantial and used them until I got a yellow box with my pump. Since then, it has been on prescription and collected by the council. I always take my pump apart to minimise the size of the things in the bin and maximise the life of it. It takes me over a year to fill.
When my box is full, I contact the council and put it outside my door over night. I always remove the label with my name on it to shred it as I do any post with my name and address on - to protect my identity. It is not to hide anything illegal I am doing.

 

[trophywench]

They incinerate used, sealed sharps containers.

 

[goodybags]

I buy them from pharmacy (in Tesco £1) and book collection of the full bins online on the council web site they are declared to be hazardous waste and I believe they get incinerated

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Whenever I have looked into this it seems that the council have the legal responsibility, but there are all sorts of circular and logic-defying arrangements and deals that councils strike with GP surgeries, pharmacies and private contractors making it a complete nightmare.

You absolutely should NOT have been advised to just bung full sharps containers in with normal refuse though 😱

You might get a hint from here: https://www.gov.uk/request-clinical-waste-collection

We ran a poll on the forum a while back

Sharps Bins? Easy or impossible.

For members who create ‘sharps’ as part of their diabetes management, I am interested in how easy or difficult the local authority in your area makes it to gather and dispose of these properly. I recently did a straw poll on Twitter and 42% of respondents either had no system in their area, or...

forum.diabetes.org.uk

 

[Robin]

You might get a hint from here: https://www.gov.uk/request-clinical-waste-collection

You'd think so....but when I put my postcode in, it takes me to our District council website and the message 'Page not found'. That maybe because our doctors surgery collects ours in, but if you don’t know that and you’re looking to find out, it doesn’t help. I also noticed on the NHS website under 'Disposal of sharps' it says your local council MAY organise disposal, not MUST.

Request clinical waste collection

Arrange for a collection of clinical waste - for items like used syringes, drugs, pharmaceuticals and surgical waste

www.nhs.uk

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

You'd think so....but when I put my postcode in, it takes me to our District council website and the message 'Page not found'. That maybe because our doctors surgery collects ours in, but if you don’t know that and you’re looking to find out, it doesn’t help. I also noticed on the NHS website under 'Disposal of sharps' it says your local council MAY organise disposal, not MUST.

Request clinical waste collection

Arrange for a collection of clinical waste - for items like used syringes, drugs, pharmaceuticals and surgical waste

www.nhs.uk

How interesting Robin. I wonder if that page (or one like it) has been rewritten? I have a vague recollection it might have been there that I found reference to the legal responsibility... Though it may have been the bit about ‘please don’t stick em in a bleach bottle and lob them in the local reservoir’ 😉

This DUK document from 2015 states that it is the LA’s ‘duty’ to arrange or organise collection of waste (including domestic sharps) under legislation

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/resources-s3/2017-09/Draft%20position%20statement%20on%20sharps%20disposal%20Feb%202015.pdf

• Local authorities, as waste collection authorities, have a duty to “arrange for the collection of household waste” in their area (2). For clinical waste, including sharps, this duty arises when a collection is requested by the person who controls the waste (such as a person with diabetes who treats themselves at home).
• Local authorities that choose not to provide a sharps collection service, should consider how else they can fulfil these obligations, and make arrangements with other service providers.
• Although local authorities are permitted to charge for collecting clinical waste from domestic properties, it is good practice not to do so. This may be prohibitively expensive for many people with diabetes, and discourage them from using the service.
• Given local authorities’ responsibilities, they should be the first port of call for anyone seeking information about sharps disposal. Their websites should inform residents about local collection services, and how these can be arranged. If a local authority does not provide the service itself, it should publicise other arrangements that are in place. Websites, and other sources of information, should be checked regularly to ensure they are up to date

 

[Robin]

How interesting Robin. I wonder if that page (or one like it) has been rewritten? I have a vague recollection it might have been there that I found reference to the legal responsibility... Though it may have been the bit about ‘please don’t stick em in a bleach bottle and lob them in the local reservoir’ 😉

This DUK document from 2015 states that it is the LA’s ‘duty’ to arrange or organise collection of waste (including domestic sharps) under legislation

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/resources-s3/2017-09/Draft%20position%20statement%20on%20sharps%20disposal%20Feb%202015.pdf

• Local authorities, as waste collection authorities, have a duty to “arrange for the collection of household waste” in their area (2). For clinical waste, including sharps, this duty arises when a collection is requested by the person who controls the waste (such as a person with diabetes who treats themselves at home).
• Local authorities that choose not to provide a sharps collection service, should consider how else they can fulfil these obligations, and make arrangements with other service providers.
• Although local authorities are permitted to charge for collecting clinical waste from domestic properties, it is good practice not to do so. This may be prohibitively expensive for many people with diabetes, and discourage them from using the service.
• Given local authorities’ responsibilities, they should be the first port of call for anyone seeking information about sharps disposal. Their websites should inform residents about local collection services, and how these can be arranged. If a local authority does not provide the service itself, it should publicise other arrangements that are in place. Websites, and other sources of information, should be checked regularly to ensure they are up to date

According to this website, West Oxon do provide a service. But there is nothing on their website, and in fact in our small town we exchange ours at our local surgery. Interesting that some of our neighbouring district councils don’t seem to offer a service, and Cherwell goes so far as to say baldy, 'we don’t do it'

Homepage - Community Pharmacy England

Community Pharmacy England promotes and supports the interests of all NHS community pharmacies in England.

www.pharmacythamesvalley.org.uk

Is this something that DUK ought to be taking up nationally, as we have so many people coming on here and saying they can’t find out what to do with their sharps, or worse, being told to put the bin in the Grey waste?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

According to this website, West Oxon do provide a service. But there is nothing on their website, and in fact in our small town we exchange ours at our local surgery. Interesting that some of our neighbouring district councils don’t seem to offer a service, and Cherwell goes so far as to say baldy, 'we don’t do it'

Homepage - Community Pharmacy England

Community Pharmacy England promotes and supports the interests of all NHS community pharmacies in England.

www.pharmacythamesvalley.org.uk

Is this something that DUK ought to be taking up nationally, as we have so many people coming on here and saying they can’t find out what to do with their sharps, or worse, being told to put the bin in the Grey waste?

I think the ‘position statement’ linked above was an attempt to at least set out the expectations, and clarify best practice.

I will certainly feed back to the campaigns team that this is an issue which continues to cause confusion, consternation, and where people still keep getting incorrect advice!

 

[KARNAK]

Mine are collected by the local council on a Monday, I use a 5 litre one and have a spare which is
also supplied by the Council 5 litres last me 6 weeks.

Good Idea @Robin.

Well said @everydayupsanddowns.

 

[SB2015]

I have a number for sharps colooection by our local council.
It works well and they leave me an empty bin to replace the full one.

 

[Lilly]

Get 7litre bin off gp surgery, when full goes back there & handed over to reception, have to sign prescription label on bin beforehand.

Mine get taken back to the doctors medical practice. Reception at one point insisted on sign a form with my name and address on it (so they can dump that personal info on a local tip?) . Worked out that it was just a procedure to stop extraneous costs to the practice. They want a name (any name) they want an address (any local fictitious address) they never read what you write; they accept the 10 small boxes or one 7 litre whatever by now due to covid require the box put in a carrier bag (absolutely no logic in that - or maybe scared of body fluids). (used 10 small dog poo bags) job done.
Note always remove/obliterate the pharmacy label to shred it.

It does occur to me that the medical practice have created a demand for plastic bags that balances the savings made by the major supermarkets. Wow.

 

[Austin Mini]

I save mine up, as my doctors surgery has gone into hiding since March last year, and when on the odd occasion they ask for me to attend for a flu jab I bring with me two or three. Looking forward to seeing them again as I have two full ones.

 

[Lucyr]

I always wonder what happens to the data you have to give them. As well as handing in the actual sharps box itself (to the pharmacy) I have to attach my name, date of birth, address and date box was closed.