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sharps bins

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fruitloaf

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
why is it that pharmacies are unable to provide sharps bins bigger than 1 litre? I specifically asked my GP to prescribe a 4.5 litre sharps bin as I thought this would be cheaper and easier than using so many 1 litre bins that I fill really quickly. I took my prescription into boots and they say that are unable to order a 4.5L sharps bin so instead have given me 4 1 litre bins 🙄
 
I get mine from the council environmental waste people and they give me a 5L bin. Having said that, it has an orange lid and I think they are supposed to be yellow lids for our kind of sharps (the lid colours represent different 'levels' of toxicity I believe). What colour are your lids?
 
Its madness fruit im in the same situation but im guessing as your a type 1 u use more needles etc then me, i know others in here have massive ones, i know you should not have to but you can shop online and buy your own, i particularly like the purple one lol..
 
I've only ever had 1 litre bins. Mine last for ages if I just put in the pen needle itself and throw the plastic cap in the normal rubbish.

I have 2 or 3 on the go at a time and replace them en masse every so often. I find they are not too big to be too obtrusive.

Rob
 
Ps. I get through 5 needles a day. 🙂

Rob
 
Was reading about sharps bins and colours today and it clealry failed to sink in..I've totally forgotten. I see to remember that orange lids were what we put drugs and sharps in in my old hospital, as long as they arn't cytotoxic. Cytotoxic's purple...but now we just used purple bins and yellow bins. We don't supply bins, so i can't tell you why...excpet i guess 4l bins take up a lot of space and they don't have the room to spare i guess.
 
Just out of interest, the pharmacy at the hospital I work in told me they don't order certain things (I think it was some sort of mouthwash I was sent to get) because they are so bulky and they can't store them properly.

I use 11 litre bins that my mum 'procures' for me from her ward - now I work on a ward I'm going to ask if I can pinch one from our store room, and dispose of mine in our sharps disposal room.
 
Northerner said:
I get mine from the council environmental waste people and they give me a 5L bin. Having said that, it has an orange lid and I think they are supposed to be yellow lids for our kind of sharps (the lid colours represent different 'levels' of toxicity I believe). What colour are your lids?
Click to expand...

I know the colour represents what they are used for, I have yellow. It says on it, sharps including medicinal residues. Not sure what the orange ones are for, but i was always prescribed orange. But the pharmacies always struggled to obtain those and i usually had to wait for ages. so i got gp to change to yellow and dont have problems getting them.

I have 1 litre bins, i like the size and fits nicely on a shelf in my study 😉
 
My local council insist that my empty insulin cartridges must be put in my sharps bin with used needles and they will collect on request. In view of this I complained to my GP that the 1 litre bin is not big enough. He has shown me a list issued by the PCT containing items that he can prescribe, the only sharps bin on there is a 1 litre, so he cannot prescribe a 5 litre. His words to me were, if the PCT can't use common sense then lets join them, he gave me a repeat prescription for 10 x 1litre sharps bin, so every time I get my repeat I get 10 bins 😱 :D

Anybody short of a bin., you know where I am..😉
 
tracey w said:
I know the colour represents what they are used for, I have yellow. It says on it, sharps including medicinal residues. Not sure what the orange ones are for, but i was always prescribed orange. But the pharmacies always struggled to obtain those and i usually had to wait for ages. so i got gp to change to yellow and dont have problems getting them.

I have 1 litre bins, i like the size and fits nicely on a shelf in my study 😉
Click to expand...

The lids colours depict what size and type opening there is to put your sharps through..

I know some councils/area's use a different sharp coloured box dependant to who it's being given too, with normal medical conditions getting the yellow, and drug addicts who's using a needle exchange system being given grey!

Cytotoxic drugs have to be returned to the hospital can't be put in a sharps bin.. residental/nursing homes will have a hospital number to phone for collection

Controlled drugs, have to be disposed of in a special container that has liquid that dissolves the drug, then sent back to the pharmcy

Other none used drugs, just need to be suitable stored in marked container returned to the pharmcy..

They did used to do a special container for medication but now as above
 
Well, the council failed to pick up my sharps bin on the 6th December, now it's looking like they won't pick it up on the 20th thanks to this snow!
 
Ellie Jones said:
The lids colours depict what size and type opening there is to put your sharps through..

I know some councils/area's use a different sharp coloured box dependant to who it's being given too, with normal medical conditions getting the yellow, and drug addicts who's using a needle exchange system being given grey!

Cytotoxic drugs have to be returned to the hospital can't be put in a sharps bin.. residental/nursing homes will have a hospital number to phone for collection

Controlled drugs, have to be disposed of in a special container that has liquid that dissolves the drug, then sent back to the pharmcy

Other none used drugs, just need to be suitable stored in marked container returned to the pharmcy..

They did used to do a special container for medication but now as above
Click to expand...

thanks Ellie thats very informative.

But i dont understand why i had the 1 litre orange coloured with lids same size as the 1 litre yellow. You have me intrigued now. Or is it they are discontinued hence why pharmacies could never get hold of them and kept asking if it was ok to have a yellow one?:confused:
 
tracey w said:
thanks Ellie thats very informative.

But i dont understand why i had the 1 litre orange coloured with lids same size as the 1 litre yellow. You have me intrigued now. Or is it they are discontinued hence why pharmacies could never get hold of them and kept asking if it was ok to have a yellow one?:confused:
Click to expand...

When I left hospital they gave me a yellow-lidded one but the council have always given me orange-lidded ones. I think yellow is appropriate for us so I don't know why they would ask if it's OK :confused:
 
well i have learnt something new i never realised the lods represented anything lol
 
Me neither Steffie, it got to the point when i handed in my script, i would say "yellow is fine" before they could ask. :D
 
OK, I just looked it up and found out the following:

Yellow - Sharps excluding those contaminated with cyto waste

Orange Bins - Sharps NOT contaminated with ANY medicinal products

So we should be using yellow, really.
 
Well done Northe, so my gp was at fault, again! :D
 
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