Recycling diabetes injection needles

RocketBoat

I have a bunch of injection needles used with my insulin syringes. I wonder if it is possible to recycle them by returning them to a particular hospital or pharmacy. I am not getting any straight answer when asking around. I live in Cork and I do not want to dispose of them as garbage.

aoifemcd

Do you have a sharps bin? If not, you need to get one of them first.

You should be able to bring them back to your local health centre or gp. Your pharmacy may take them but afaik they're not obliged to. I'm not sure about hospitals.

P_1

I don't think you can recycle them (basically down to a lack of traceability I think), nor should you throw them out in the general waste.

What you need to do is get a sharps bin, fill and seal it and then bring it to your diabetes clinic where it will be sent to France for incineration.

RustyNut

RocketBoat wrote: »

I have a bunch of injection needles used with my insulin syringes. I wonder if it is possible to recycle them by returning them to a particular hospital or pharmacy. I am not getting any straight answer when asking around. I live in Cork and I do not want to dispose of them as garbage.

As far as im aware any potentially infectious material gets exported for incineration on safety grounds.

locum-motion

RocketBoat wrote: »

I have a bunch of injection needles used with my insulin syringes. I wonder if it is possible to recycle them ...

Absolutely positively not. They are contaminated sharps, and must be diposed of as such, after one single-patient use .

aoifemcd wrote: »

Do you have a sharps bin? If not, you need to get one of them first.

Absolutely.

aoifemcd wrote: »

You should be able to bring them back to your local health centre or gp...

Ask your GP or Diabetes Clinic about where to get the sharps bin and wehere to return it to when it's full.

aoifemcd wrote: »

Your pharmacy may take them but afaik they're not obliged to

Damn right they're not obliged to! I've been in Pharmacy for over 25 years. I've never taken used sharps in, I've no plans to ever take used sharps in*, and I wouldn't know where to send them I did take used sharps in.

P_1 wrote: »

I don't think you can recycle them (basically down to a lack of traceability I think), nor should you throw them out in the general waste...

It's not anything to do with "traceability". It's to do with the fact that they're contaminated!



*: There is a small scale feasibility study currently underway to see if it's safe etc for pharmacies to offer a needle exchange scheme for IV drug abusers, but I'm not involved in it.

P_1

locum-motion wrote: »

It's not anything to do with "traceability". It's to do with the fact that they're contaminated!

Ah I was referring to unused, but dispensed, needles. Should have clarified that. Of course you can't recycle used needles!

graflynn

P_1 wrote: »

Ah I was referring to unused, but dispensed, needles. Should have clarified that. Of course you can't recycle used needles!

If the box is still sealed the chemist might take them back. But it might be difficult to pass them onto a clinic or hospital.

P_1

graflynn wrote: »

If the box is still sealed the chemist might take them back. But it might be difficult to pass them onto a clinic or hospital.

Possibly if it's still sealed alright but I'm not sure if there's any mechanism in place for somebody to return a filled prescription to a pharmacist.

AFAIK with clinics or hospitals it's a case of once it's dispensed it has to be used or disposed of though.

palmcut

graflynn wrote: »

If the box is still sealed the chemist might take them back. But it might be difficult to pass them onto a clinic or hospital.

It is illegal for the pharmacist to take them back for re-use.

RocketBoat

Thanks for all replies.

I meant that my needles are used and need to be disposed of safely. When I said "recycle", I thought that the metal in the needles could be melted and reused again. That is what happens to metal cans. (I presumed that this would be safe and not be able to pass on disease-carrying vectors.) If needles are incinerated, then thanks for the rectification. Whatever the 'solution', I do not want to put them in the bin and, on the way to a landfill site, they could potentially could lead to infection of an innocent person.

My GP or pharmacy (I do not remember) advised me to contact the Cork University Hospital. There, they told me that they do not accept used syringes for safe disposal. I asked Citizens Information and they replied Ballyphehane Health Center. So this will be my next stop this week.

P_1

RocketBoat wrote: »

Thanks for all replies.

I meant that my needles are used and need to be disposed of safely. When I said "recycle", I thought that the metal in the needles could be melted and reused again. That is what happens to metal cans. (I presumed that this would be safe and not be able to pass on disease-carrying vectors.) If needles are incinerated, then thanks for the rectification. Whatever the 'solution', I do not want to put them in the bin and, on the way to a landfill site, they could potentially could lead to infection of an innocent person.

My GP or pharmacy (I do not remember) advised me to contact the Cork University Hospital. There, they told me that they do not accept used syringes for safe disposal. I asked Citizens Information and they replied Ballyphehane Health Center. So this will be my next stop this week.

Do you attend a clinic for your diabetes? What happens with mine is that they give you a sharps bin to put the needles in. When it gets full you seal it and drop it into them and they give you an empty one.

locum-motion

P_1 wrote: »

Ah I was referring to unused, but dispensed, needles. Should have clarified that. Of course you can't recycle used needles!

Ah, yes, OK.

Well in that case: Yes, I suppose you could call it a 'traceability' issue in a sense.

Pharmacies are obliged to obtain the stock they supply to the public from suppliers that are authorised by the HPRA (formerly known as the IMB).

A member of the public who happens to have excess, unwanted stuff (be it medicines, needles, lancets, diagnostic strips, or whatever) is not an authorised supplier.

Therefore, as my learned colleague Palmcut pointed out above, a Pharmacist cannot supply to one patient 'stuff' that has been returned by another.

Once stock leaves the Pharmacy, if it gets returned it gets destroyed. Even if you've only gone 6 feet out the door and turned around and walked straight back in.

locum-motion

RocketBoat wrote: »

... When I said "recycle", I thought that the metal in the needles could be melted and reused again. That is what happens to metal cans...

The amount of metal in a needle is too small (probably only about half a gram or so) to make it worthwhile.

P_1

locum-motion wrote: »

Ah, yes, OK.

Well in that case: Yes, I suppose you could call it a 'traceability' issue in a sense.

Pharmacies are obliged to obtain the stock they supply to the public from suppliers that are authorised by the HPRA (formerly known as the IMB).

A member of the public who happens to have excess, unwanted stuff (be it medicines, needles, lancets, diagnostic strips, or whatever) is not an authorised supplier.

Therefore, as my learned colleague Palmcut pointed out above, a Pharmacist cannot supply to one patient 'stuff' that has been returned by another.

Once stock leaves the Pharmacy, if it gets returned it gets destroyed. Even if you've only gone 6 feet out the door and turned around and walked straight back in.

Yeah I suppose 'traceability' may have been a poor choice of words. Interesting to know that a prescription must be destroyed if returned but it makes perfect sense when you think of it.

RocketBoat

P_1 wrote: »

Do you attend a clinic for your diabetes? What happens with mine is that they give you a sharps bin to put the needles in. When it gets full you seal it and drop it into them and they give you an empty one.

I have only my own GP to refer to regarding diabetes. I have seen other people who have a small container made of rigid plastics where you as a diabetic put your needles and return them to a hospital or pharmacy. My GP is not futuristic enough to employ that solution yet.

P_1

RocketBoat wrote: »

I have only my own GP to refer to regarding diabetes. I have seen other people who have a small container made of rigid plastics where you as a diabetic put your needles and return them to a hospital or pharmacy. My GP is not futuristic enough to employ that solution yet.

Ah fair enough. Ok then I'd say your best bet would be to give Diabetes Ireland a quick bell. Their number is 01 842 8118. They should be able to tell you where the best place to go would be.

As an aside, using your GP for your diabetes care must be costing you a fortune. It might be worthwhile looking into switching to a diabetes clinic. If your GP isn't 'futuristic enough' to offer a sharps bin service then who knows what else he isn't 'futuristic enough' to offer.

Pretzill

Op my OH got a sharps box in our local pharmacy - it cost ten Euro - he returns the box to the pharmacy when it is full and they give him an empty one. So some pharmacies do offer this service.

locum-motion

Pretzill wrote: »

Op my OH got a sharps box in our local pharmacy - it cost ten Euro - he returns the box to the pharmacy when it is full and they give him an empty one. So some pharmacies do offer this service.

25 years working in pharmacies - Including 7-8 years as a locum - Have worked in approx 115 different pharmacies - And I have NEVER seen this.

P_1

locum-motion wrote: »

25 years working in pharmacies - Including 7-8 years as a locum - Have worked in approx 115 different pharmacies - And I have NEVER seen this.

Some pharmacies offer it but the vast majority don't.

Pretzill

locum-motion wrote: »

25 years working in pharmacies - Including 7-8 years as a locum - Have worked in approx 115 different pharmacies - And I have NEVER seen this.

Perhaps it's just rural pharmacies? We live out in the sticks! Bringing the sharps box to the hospital involves a 60 mile round trip. So I would say it's likely that there are other options for safe disposal available in these circumstances.

aoifemcd

locum-motion wrote: »

25 years working in pharmacies - Including 7-8 years as a locum - Have worked in approx 115 different pharmacies - And I have NEVER seen this.

I've worked in a pharmacy for the last 8 years and seen this numerous times. It's not in a rural area either. It just depends on the pharmacy.

In the pharmacy I work in if we supply the empty sharps bin we will take it back.

RocketBoat

P_1 wrote: »

Ah fair enough. Ok then I'd say your best bet would be to give Diabetes Ireland a quick bell. Their number is 01 842 8118. They should be able to tell you where the best place to go would be.

As an aside, using your GP for your diabetes care must be costing you a fortune. It might be worthwhile looking into switching to a diabetes clinic. If your GP isn't 'futuristic enough' to offer a sharps bin service then who knows what else he isn't 'futuristic enough' to offer.

I made my way down to Ballyphehane Health Center in Cork. Much to my amusement, it turned out to be correct that they accept used insulin needles there. And they are incinerated, not recycled, which others have pointed out before.

Pretzill wrote: »

Op my OH got a sharps box in our local pharmacy - it cost ten Euro - he returns the box to the pharmacy when it is full and they give him an empty one. So some pharmacies do offer this service.

locum-motion wrote: »

25 years working in pharmacies - Including 7-8 years as a locum - Have worked in approx 115 different pharmacies - And I have NEVER seen this.

P_1 wrote: »

Some pharmacies offer it but the vast majority don't.

Pretzill wrote: »

Perhaps it's just rural pharmacies? We live out in the sticks! Bringing the sharps box to the hospital involves a 60 mile round trip. So I would say it's likely that there are other options for safe disposal available in these circumstances.

aoifemcd wrote: »

I've worked in a pharmacy for the last 8 years and seen this numerous times. It's not in a rural area either. It just depends on the pharmacy.

In the pharmacy I work in if we supply the empty sharps bin we will take it back.

I come from a Scandinavian country. It has been a regular feature to have the possibility of returning used needles to pharmacies for at least 15 years, if my memory is reliable. We get yellow containers made out of rigid plastics and you can do this all over the country.

I hope that scientific advancement will make possible a painless approach to insulin injection in the future (e.g., inhale insulin, restore insulin-producing cells). I am managing my diabetes well, but I feel like a pincushion sometimes and it is not nice that I cannot plan my time as freely as I would like to do.

DM addict

My husband occasionally has to take an injection, and we have a sharps box provided by the GP, and they take it back when it's full for incineration. At no charge. I asked in the pharmacy, and they wouldn't take it.

Surprised your GP would give you needles without a safe method of disposal.

RocketBoat

DM addict wrote: »

My husband occasionally has to take an injection, and we have a sharps box provided by the GP, and they take it back when it's full for incineration. At no charge. I asked in the pharmacy, and they wouldn't take it.

Surprised your GP would give you needles without a safe method of disposal.

GPs are generalists, not specialists by definition. If they fail to perform, we patients have to find solutions on our own. It could be that they are too busy dealing with other stuff, so perhaps they neglect their patients without intention. (I am not good at judging people, so I am wary of criticizing.)

I visit a specialist of diabetes occasionally to ensure that I get everything right.

DM addict

RocketBoat wrote: »

GPs are generalists, not specialists by definition. If they fail to perform, we patients have to find solutions on our own. It could be that they are too busy dealing with other stuff, so perhaps they neglect their patients without intention. (I am not good at judging people, so I am wary of criticizing.)

I visit a specialist of diabetes occasionally to ensure that I get everything right.

I'm aware of the burden on GPs and the range of situations they have to deal with. But sharps disposal is a rather significant safety issue. I'm sure there was no intentional oversight, I'm just surprised that something I'd consider so important was overlooked.

suds1984

As a general rule, it is the place that provides you with the sharps bin that will take it back... Be that the pharmacy, GP, hospital or drug company.