Have you ever wonderef how many test strips you use in a year?

So last January I thought it would be interesting to see how many test strips I use in a year. So I collected them this past year. I was surprised how few there were and at the same time how many there were. So I figured I used about 1600 of them last year. Then I wondered how many I had used since I was diagnosed. I am guessing about 22000. Why can’t they make them reusable? It sure would save a good bit of waste. Anyone else ever wonder how many they have used?

I am doing the same thing now. I put all my test strips in a bag to figure out how many I have used. I have not started to count yet but the bag is filling up.

There used to be a meter that had strips that you could wash off and reuse. Guess what? They didn’t make any money on it. The meter itself was too expensive, and they couldn’t sell enough strips. Question answered?

Interesting idea on recycling them for reuse… i think it would be too expensive perhaps? Looking at a bottle of strips on my desk, they list ingredients used which makes me think there’s a chemical loading process involved and when you add blood, it reacts with chemicals, does it’s magic etc, but in order to reload a strip, you’d have to clean it first, then reapply the chemicals in the proper amounts/way, etc. Since most all test strips come in moisture proof containers, im also guessing this isn’t a process most people could handle at home easily unless they came out with an expensive (?) machine that could do it for you. Maybe add a bottle of x, a bag of powder y, stick old strip in here, wait x minutes for it to clean and reload… etc. Not saying it won’t eventually happen, but i don’t see it as cost effective with current technology. With the growing number of people testing it’s bound to happen or improve soon… i’m still waiting for the color-changing tattoo/ink heh.