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Original poster

Sharps bin disposal?

101 replies

DorotheaDiamond · 13/05/2025 22:19

Has anyone managed to find a way to dispose of a full sharps bin? Chemists in my borough won’t touch it, the council website gets me to fill in a form for a collection but I never get any call to arrange it! Council website says otherwise it’s the prescribers responsibility but none of the online pharmacies I’ve used will do it!!!

im going to give up
and just put it in a rubbish bin at this point!

OP posts:
Thread gallery
8
Huckleberries · 14/05/2025 22:21

Some branches of boots still do it I think

I had to inject a heparin a few years ago and that's who took it here. There must be lots of people with this issue diabetics etc

SilenceInside · 14/05/2025 22:26

How could an online only pharmacy with no physical building open to the public deal with sharps bins, if (rightly) they cannot be sent in the post? How would the customer return them to the pharmacy for disposal? I can’t see how they could safely fulfill the requirement to deal with the sharps bins they are sending out.

GuiltyPleasure · 14/05/2025 23:08

I completely agree that this part of the process is really badly provided for and in retrospect is something that I would have thought through better when choosing my provider. My council will only do collection if you can evidence that you’re housebound. No GP surgery near me offers the service and I have no accessible pharmacy that will take them & there’s no household recycling centre that I can find that takes medical waste. I think all private providers (which is obviously what the majority of users are with) should be compelled to provide a waste disposal service as part of them being a regulated provider.
So for now, like other posters, I have a rapidly filling yellow sharps bin, in a drawer. I’m cramming in as many as I can and it will sit there till I find a solution, but it’s a ridiculous situation and honestly it doesn’t surprise me if a lot of users just end up disposing of the full box in household waste

Burnserns · 14/05/2025 23:21

I know someone else said it as well, but drug and alcohol services often run needle exchanges. They may be able to help with disposal.

MouldyCandy · 15/05/2025 00:38

If you have a wheelie bin collection (not just sacks) and you normal rubbish goes to an incinerator (not a landfill) it's fine to put sharps in a container (1pt milk bottle with the lid back on) in your wheelie bin NOT your recycling bin. Sharps collection in a sharps bin are burnt at the same incinerator. Refuse collection staff are not at risk of needle stick injury if it's in a sealed milk bottle, inside a bag, inside your bin, and your bin lid is closed. Dispose of them little and often.

EBearhug · 15/05/2025 01:13

Huckleberries · 14/05/2025 22:21

Some branches of boots still do it I think

I had to inject a heparin a few years ago and that's who took it here. There must be lots of people with this issue diabetics etc

I'm diabetic. I just phone my council, they check available slots, we agree one when I'm not away. It's possible the GP notified them originally, o get me on the list - I can't remember that far back.

But that's my council. Clearly the OP's has a different process (which doesn't work.)

Gingernaut · 15/05/2025 01:18

As I live in that kind of neighbourhood, local needle exchanges sometimes take them

I had to travel hours and miles out of my way to get to one particular health centre that took sealed bins under a certain size

AugustMounjaroTeam · 15/05/2025 07:51

MouldyCandy · 15/05/2025 00:38

If you have a wheelie bin collection (not just sacks) and you normal rubbish goes to an incinerator (not a landfill) it's fine to put sharps in a container (1pt milk bottle with the lid back on) in your wheelie bin NOT your recycling bin. Sharps collection in a sharps bin are burnt at the same incinerator. Refuse collection staff are not at risk of needle stick injury if it's in a sealed milk bottle, inside a bag, inside your bin, and your bin lid is closed. Dispose of them little and often.

Interesting. I have tried all of the suggestions here with no success, but I believe our general rubbish is incinerated, so maybe I’ll stop overthinking it.

Lollygaggle · 15/05/2025 08:03

MouldyCandy · 15/05/2025 00:38

If you have a wheelie bin collection (not just sacks) and you normal rubbish goes to an incinerator (not a landfill) it's fine to put sharps in a container (1pt milk bottle with the lid back on) in your wheelie bin NOT your recycling bin. Sharps collection in a sharps bin are burnt at the same incinerator. Refuse collection staff are not at risk of needle stick injury if it's in a sealed milk bottle, inside a bag, inside your bin, and your bin lid is closed. Dispose of them little and often.

No it is not! Have you ever seen rubbish being handled?

By doing this you are putting other peoples lives at risk . A plastic milk bottle is not a sharps container , it is not robust but more importantly you are not signalling it is clinical waste so it is handled appropriately . Rightly so if you put a sharps box in general waste you would be fined heavily. https://www.wastemanaged.co.uk/our-news/sharps-waste/legal-requirements-for-sharps-waste-disposal-in-the-uk/

Legal Requirements for Sharps Waste Disposal in the UK

This guide outlines the legal requirements for sharps waste disposal in the UK to help business owners understand their responsibilities.

https://www.wastemanaged.co.uk/our-news/sharps-waste/legal-requirements-for-sharps-waste-disposal-in-the-uk/

susiedaisy1912 · 15/05/2025 08:10

Genuine question here. Why can’t the proper sealed sharps bin go into the normal waste bin and get incinerated like any other rubbish? My first sharps bin is getting near to full and so I will have the same issue.

AugustMounjaroTeam · 15/05/2025 08:16

By doing this you are putting other peoples lives at risk.

I do get that it’s not a good option, and haven’t done it (yet), but this is just not true in most cases of common or garden people who don’t have e.g. AIDS/hepatitis, is it - and that’s what we’re talking about on this thread. Why would lives be at risk?

Councils are surely going to have to come up with some better options soon though, or people are just going to do this.

stichguru · 15/05/2025 08:20

The council should have a sharps disposal service. If the form isn't working, find another way to contact them! Even if you ring a general council number, they should be able to put you through to someone. Failing that, contact you local GP or hospital as they will be able to advise. DO NOT put them in the general waste, that would be a very horrible thing to do, you could literally mess up or end someone's life.

BoldAmberDuck · 15/05/2025 08:22

Can you put them in a plastic drinks bottle, put the lid on and put in general waste? They’re tiny and no danger to bin collectors

BoldAmberDuck · 15/05/2025 08:24

MouldyCandy · 15/05/2025 00:38

If you have a wheelie bin collection (not just sacks) and you normal rubbish goes to an incinerator (not a landfill) it's fine to put sharps in a container (1pt milk bottle with the lid back on) in your wheelie bin NOT your recycling bin. Sharps collection in a sharps bin are burnt at the same incinerator. Refuse collection staff are not at risk of needle stick injury if it's in a sealed milk bottle, inside a bag, inside your bin, and your bin lid is closed. Dispose of them little and often.

I would too

AugustMounjaroTeam · 15/05/2025 08:24

People really aren’t getting that many of us have tried council, pharmacies, looked for needle exchanges etc. etc. with no success … my council will only take them with referral from GP.

I have tried lots of options, and as I’ve had no success I’ve just put them away. We are just saying that it’s an issue, and very short+sighted, as I’m sure plenty of people will get frustrated just throw them in the general bin.

Febnewbie · 15/05/2025 08:29

The situation is ridiculous

I have two family members with medical conditions which require needles and you just get passed from pillar to post with this.

Found the pharmacist sent me to the GP, the GP sent me to the pharmacist, it is technically the responsibility of the council but they never reply. Once successfully scheduled a collection that they didn't then turn up for.

I have ended up - but this isn't too difficult for me because I work in central London - dropping off at a needle exchange pharmacy. But the system is so bad that I don't blame people for giving up and dumping them.

My type 1 diabetic family member now gives them to me to take it with mine in central London. A friend leaves them in the toilets at their local hospital because there are no needle exchange pharmacies anywhere near them, the council/GP/pharmacists have been so unhelpful to her and she knows that even though the hospital won't technically take them, they do have the facilities if she dumps them.

It's a problem that is going to get bigger and bigger with WLIs.

I know people get quite judge about it but until you have experienced how awful the system is, you don't get it

Doggymummar · 15/05/2025 08:47

Maybe I'm ignorant but I don't see the problem. It's miniscule and it has two plastic caps of it's own so it's not accidentally going to stick anyone. My collectors said just wrap it in paper like you would broken glass. Black bags go to the incinerator anyway. My mum who is a pharmacist said no you can't do that etc etc so I emailed the council who said black bags is fine. Just identify it if you can. So as I said before they go in a takeaway tub with careful written on it.

Fromthesidelines · 15/05/2025 08:47

Also in the position of not knowing what to do. My council will only take them if you are put on a list by the GP. GP won't put me on the list as they are not the prescriber. No pharmacies will take them in my area. Rural and no needle exchanges around here. Someone suggested vets might take them for a fee but have had no success so far finding one willing to do this.
Really don't know what to do so just hoarding them ATM.

andtheworldrollson · 15/05/2025 08:59

The online pharmacies should be forced to sort this out - guess it will take legislation and that will take a couple of accidents

Febnewbie · 15/05/2025 09:03

andtheworldrollson · 15/05/2025 08:59

The online pharmacies should be forced to sort this out - guess it will take legislation and that will take a couple of accidents

It's not just an issue with online pharmacies - I have two family members who have prescriptions from physical pharmacies for conditions not to do with WLI and it's impossible to get anyone to deal with those sharps either

Whiteflowerscreed · 15/05/2025 09:06

My GP is where I’ve been told to take my sharps box (from hospital visit). I don’t think they ask the origin. I would try gp

Whiteflowerscreed · 15/05/2025 09:08

MouldyCandy · 15/05/2025 00:38

If you have a wheelie bin collection (not just sacks) and you normal rubbish goes to an incinerator (not a landfill) it's fine to put sharps in a container (1pt milk bottle with the lid back on) in your wheelie bin NOT your recycling bin. Sharps collection in a sharps bin are burnt at the same incinerator. Refuse collection staff are not at risk of needle stick injury if it's in a sealed milk bottle, inside a bag, inside your bin, and your bin lid is closed. Dispose of them little and often.

That’s such awful advice

CaptainFuture · 15/05/2025 09:19

Lollygaggle · 14/05/2025 22:09

I had a patient who was a refuse collector . He received an injury from a syringe in general rubbish . He had a HIV test straight away but nothing else .

Years later after he got married and had a child he started to have tests because he had been feeling more and more unwell. He was hepatitis b positive from the needle stick injury . His wife and child also had to be tested but , thankfully were negative . The less good news is that he is in liver failure and the treatment for his hep b has not been sucessful.

Sharps containers are not designed to stand up to the rigours of general waste handling and should be disposed of as clinical waste.

Anything contaminated and potentially infectious should not be sent in the general post , it is an offence .

Some pharmacies will take sharps , drugs clinics will , phone up the council about sharps collection. Don’t put people at risk by putting sharps in general rubbish.

This, how lazy and selfish would it be for someone to just dump sharps in the household waste just because they can't be bothered to persevere with the prescriber and the joint responsibility of managing their used sharps!

SilenceInside · 15/05/2025 09:26

The point is that we all know we don't have hepatitis or HIV, or we are very very unlikely to have something like that and not yet be aware of it, but the refuse collector who gets injured when they have to handle rubbish and aren't aware it might be sharps, doesn't know that. They then have the stress and worry about getting tested and checked out before getting the all clear. It's unlikely that someone would get injured, but it's not impossible and the least we can do is keep the sharps box safely at home whilst we find a disposal method. Even if it takes a long time.

Arglefraster · 15/05/2025 09:31

My Scottish council website explains they are responsible for sharps on public land but not those inside private property & then links to the NHS site with a postcode search for disposal options - which says in large letters "Only for England & Wales" 🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️🤦🏻‍♀️

I've been looking for a solution for 6 months now so following this thread in hope...