What do you do with your test strips and tubs

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digihat

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Good Afternoon

Hope everyone is doing well

Quick question just wondered what you do with used test strips and the tubs they come in?

Wasnt sure if if i should put the test strips in the sharps bin and just throw away the tubs?

I know what to do with my cgm stuff and needles didn't ask them the nurses at the time
 
Don’t use them now, but strips in the bin! You don’t put used plasters or tissues from a bloody nose in the sharps do you?

Now the little tubs, that’s a whole different matter. I have loads of them scattered around various piexes of outdoor clothing, in the carrier on my bike, the glove box in the car. For what I hear you say. JELLY BABIES - they are the perfect size for two placed nose to tail.
 
digihat said:
Wasnt sure if if i should put the test strips in the sharps bin and just throw away the tubs?
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Test strips are not sharp so they do not go in a sharps bin, they go in whatever waste bin you’d put a used plaster in, which in my area is the black waste bin
 
barrym said:
For what I hear you say. JELLY BABIES - they are the perfect size for two placed nose to tail.
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The test strip tubs aren’t food safe though. I just put the tubs in the bin.
 
I put the tubs into our plastic recycling, and like @barrym my used test strips in general waste. My lancets go into a sharps bin and when it's full I'll contact our local authority to get it collected and replaced. Some put used lancets in general waste but that's against Diabetes UK, NHS and WHO advice.
 
Martin.A said:
I put the tubs into our plastic recycling, and like @barrym my used test strips in general waste. My lancets go into a sharps bin and when it's full I'll contact our local authority to get it collected and replaced. Some put used lancets in general waste but that's against Diabetes UK, NHS and WHO advice.
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That seems very odd, I work with glass and have plenty of pieces just as sharp as a lancet and they go into general waste.
 
Leadinglights said:
That seems very odd, I work with glass and have plenty of pieces just as sharp as a lancet and they go into general waste.
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Maybe, but this is what the NHS website says:-

Do not put used needles or other sharps in:
  • any type of household bin (for example, a general rubbish bin or a recycling bin)
  • a container that's no longer needed, such as a drinks can or bottle
 
I was told by a DSN to put my used strips in the sharps bin and also, at one time, given a guide that said exactly the same - used syringe, lancets an strips into the sharps bin. My tubs go for recycling. Before my amputation I used a couple for small change in the car.
 
Lucyr said:
The test strip tubs aren’t food safe though. I just put the tubs in the bin.
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...and your jelly babies in your pocket eh?

Very HSE/21st century . I was brought up in an age when we ate carrots raw from the garden, just wiped clean on the grass. Never did us any harm. Or did it?
 
barrym said:
...and your jelly babies in your pocket eh?

Very HSE/21st century . I was brought up in an age when we ate carrots raw from the garden, just wiped clean on the grass. Never did us any harm. Or did it?
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I don’t eat jelly babies I use glucotabs which come in a tub or I use a mini can of Coke
 
barrym said:
Don’t use them now, but strips in the bin! You don’t put used plasters or tissues from a bloody nose in the sharps do you?

Now the little tubs, that’s a whole different matter. I have loads of them scattered around various piexes of outdoor clothing, in the carrier on my bike, the glove box in the car. For what I hear you say. JELLY BABIES - they are the perfect size for two placed nose to tail.
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I can't believe you do this too!! And yes, head to toe fits best but also front to back.

Do you also make sure to put a nice flavoured one like a black or red, in with a green one?? Hypos are quite bad enough but if I had to treat it with 2 greens together, it would be a really bad hypo! Yuk!

The advantage is that you can treat a hypo without feeling guilty about not passing your sweets round because it looks like you are taking something medicinal, plus the desiccant in the lid keeps them from going gooey, especially out in the poly tunnel or up at the stables or in the car, where the environment is not always dry. The pots are robust, so keeps them from getting squished in the bottom of your bag or a pocket and 2 (10g carbs) is a suitable treatment for most of my hypos, but there is always the option of another 2.

You can also use them to store garden seeds after you have opened a packet and not used them all or dried them, if home collected seeds. Again the desiccant in the lid helps to keep them dry.
I am open to other suggestions if anyone has any?

As regards those who recycle them, do you remove the lid or the desiccant in the lid before you put them in the recycle bin? I don't think mine are recyclable plastic. They are black with white lids and I can't see a recycle triangle. Putting items in for recycle when they are not suitable can compromise the whole lorry collection I believe, so you may be doing more harm than good in putting them in. My test strips go in the rubbish bin.
 
My pot has a Recycle Triangle on it with the number 7 which, confusingly means - "not readily recyclable."
So the presence of a triangle does not instantly mean "put it the recycling,
 
Mine doesn't have a triangle, just C and then a number, but looking at my collection of JB hypo pots, the number varies from one pot to the next, so clearly doesn't relate to recycle info.
 
rebrascora said:
I can't believe you do this too!! And yes, head to toe fits best but also front to back.
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Steady, top to tail is one thing, but front to back too? Very risqué.

rebrascora said:
Do you also make sure to put a nice flavoured one like a black or red, in with a green one?? Hypos are quite bad enough but if I had to treat it with 2 greens together, it would be a really bad hypo! Yuk!
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I rarely find the nice colour ones. Is it the wife or the grand children? There’s no respect eh?

rebrascora said:
…., plus the desiccant in the lid keeps them from going gooey, especially out in the poly tunnel or up at the stables or in the car, where the environment is not always dry.
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I’ve had ones that have been in the car ‘welded’ in. Took a screwdriver to get them out.

Still worked though😱.

rebrascora said:
You can also use them to store garden seeds after you have opened a packet and not used them all or dried them, if home collected seeds. Again the desiccant in the lid helps to keep them dry.
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Getting a bit serious now!

rebrascora said:
I am open to other suggestions if anyone has any?
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Hmm, I refer you to my first response! 😉
 
Test strips in bin along with wrapper, don't have tubs now as strips come in box but before using freestyle strips tubs would go in recycle bin.
 
I'm not sure the dessicant is food safe, so I use my old test strip containers for storing non-food items. Old test strip tubs make great mini sharps bins for when I'm away from home.

I decant small portions of low treatments into these Sistema Dressing pots. They keep well in my backpack, bag or pocket.

I also keep glucose tabs by my bed in these Sistema 'Mini Bites' tubs for night time lows. Some glucose tabs here in Germany come in small paper/cardboard boxes and these Sistema tubs are easy to handle at night without turning on the light. I also keep them around the house filled with Skittles, Haribo, dried pineapple or whatever my low treatment of the month is.
 
rebrascora said:
As regards those who recycle them, do you remove the lid or the desiccant in the lid before you put them in the recycle bin? I don't think mine are recyclable plastic. They are black with white lids and I can't see a recycle triangle. Putting items in for recycle when they are not suitable can compromise the whole lorry collection I believe, so you may be doing more harm than good in putting them in. My test strips go in the rubbish bin.
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My pots (Contour XT) are marked with recycling mark on the bottom, and have plain lids with no dessicant.

Having said that I’m not sure my council take that kind of hard plastic, so I don’t put them in recycling.

Strips I’m happy to put in the general waste.
 
I've never ever seen a brand of test strips with dessicant in the lid of the tub. (only been using glucometers for the past 40+ years, not the full 52 cos they hadn't been released for home use in the early 1970s)
 
It isn't obvious but there is a white card disc on the underside of the lid in mine and there is desiccant behind it, to ensure the test strips are kept in optimum condition. Mine are Caresens Pro test strips. Not sure if my Gluco Rx strips also had the same.
 
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