What happens to the needles and pens?

[SoCoolFan]

Hi
How do you get a rid of the used needles and pens? Thanks

I just put them in the bin.

well, you can't do that, they are medical waste

You cannot do that!

Why?

Genuinely not being goady!

needle exchange/some pharmacies/some drug support charities/some councils, vets for a fee.

They are contaminated waste. A friend of mine worked in waste and contracted hepatitis c from a needle stick accident from rubbish. He passed it to his partner and his child had to be tested as it was years before he was diagnosed. He is now at high risk for liver cancer.

contaminated waste must be incinerated not handled by humans and dumped in landfill.

Be responsible , buy a needle waste container eg from Amazon and look up which chemist locally will take needle containers.

Mine came with a needle waste box. I assumed they all came with one?

@Lollygaggle that's awful. I do put the lids back on but I suppose it could get knocked off.
Putting the empty pens in the bin is ok though surely?

So when my friend who is a bin man gets pricked and has to go to hospital for tests to ensure he isn't infected with HIV, along with all the anxiety that comes with it, it's your fault?

There's no way of knowing if a discarded needle or syringe is from medical use or drug use.

I really hope you're joking and you're not actually stupid enough to put used needles in general household waste.

If you are genuinely that irresponsible and careless, please get a sharps bin, put used needles and syringes in that and when full, you can take it to a pharmacy or GP surgery to empty it, not all accept them so check beforehand. If that's no an option, most councils run a weekly collection service which you can apply for online, completely free.

it is also against the law

Absolutely not. Potentially contaminated waste is dangerous , needs to be handled properly and incinerated with all the other medical waste .

And this is a reason why unofficial/unsupervised use isn't great

Jesus Christ!!!!

You need a sharps bin and you need to arrange for proper disposal. This might be through a pharmacy or vet, etc, and you may need to pay

I use insulin, my local council give me a sharps bin and i make an appointment online and leave the bin out and they come and collect it and leave me a new bin.
However i did have to get a form signed by my gp, not sure what happens if you are using a non prescribed needle.

Mine came with a sharps box. I put the used needles in there and the pens (with no needles attached) in the bin. If you don't have a sharps box then they're less than £5 on Amazon.

I get the sharps bin thing but then it’s what to do with it when it’s full (although that would take a long time with those little needles!

The provider will send you a sharps bin if you request one.
À

The hospital issued me with a ridiculously large yellow sharps bin that will take years to fill up.

You can't put the sharps box in the bin! Why is this not common knowledge?

Out of interest (I have never trained or looked into these medications in any detail in terms of dispensing) do they not come with any advice that sharps need to be disposed of appropriately?

Either way please stop doing this

No please do not . Look up which chemist locally will accept needles. You are breaking the law and putting everyone who handles your waste and anyone who goes anywhere near the landfill it goes in at risk. It needs to be incinerated like all potentially hazardous medical waste which is what needles are .

Look up a chemist locally who accepts needles . Look under sharps or needle disposal .

Needles need to go in a sharps bin (local council supplies in my area) and pens are recycled in boxes you can get from boots.