Inside a G6 inserter

Diabetes Technology
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I drilled out the 4 white rivets and pulled apart a used G6 inserter. Pics below.

Some of my theories as to its workings:

1: The “mainspring” (the coily spring) is wound tight at the factory during manufacture.

2: The mainspring holds the beige circular cam wheel against a release controlled by the big orange button.

3: When the circular cam is released by the big orange button, the white knob on top of the cam drives the clear plastic and needle in. The white knob fits on the lip visible on the beigish needle assembly. It looks like there’s a tiny amount of grease at the knob/lip interface.

4: When the needle is in, the white knob continues its circular motion, but the white knob now pulls the clear plastic and needle out.

5: When it’s all done, there’s a much smaller spring in the clear plastic that keeps the needle held in the inserter and prevents it from accidentally coming out.

Comments?

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As long as it works, that is good enough for me and I am an engineer, go figure. A strong proponent of if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. Dexcom has its own staff working on the inserters and I am sure we will see additional improvements when the G7 and beyond are finally released.

Some people had issues with the needle not retracting back into the inserter after application and needed to whack the inserter for removal. This never happened to me and I have not heard of anyone else with this problem lately so surmise that Dexcom addressed and fixed the issue.

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Thats interesting, thank you for the pictures.

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I only wish it was more easily recycled. :frowning: Good to see it’s guts though.

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I use a thin flat head screw driver to carefully open the inserter from the front end. Takes some pressure to insert the screw driver. The plastic “rivets” will pop out when the screw driver is inserted and twisted. I then separate the needle portion of the inserter and using pliers, remove the needles which I place into a sharps container. The remaining plastic portions of the inserter go to recycling.

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I recycle mine by putting it in the plastics recycling. When it is granulated at the recycling factory, the metals are all removed by magnets and any different types of plastics are separated by laser or another form of separation by molecular weight of the plastic.

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Wow! Good to know! Thanks.

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You are contaminating any batch of recycling that you put the plastic parts into. There is not recycling code because it is medical waste. Once the workers discover any of the pieces in a load of recycling then they will send the load to landfill instead of just picking it out.

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You cannot recycle any part of the inserter no matter how much you deconstruct it. It is medical waste.

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Yes it’s medical waste with a big oil contaminated needle.
These things were constructed so that the whole thing can be thrown in the trash and not need to be put in a medical sharps container.

Of course it is a huge waste of plastic.

The plastics used are not recyclable. We will actually cause more wasted time and energy by trying to recycle them because they need to be removed from the other recycling.
And we are putting the workers at risk handling allthose needles.

I hope they come up with something better and not so wasteful for the g7

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There are three distinct types of plastic in the G6 inserter and none of it is marked for recycling.

The bulk of the “needle sled” and “circular spring driven cam” seem to be an engineering plastic like Delrin. It is possible the sled is a 3D printed plastic part (it is amazingly complex).

The outer case pieces and button might be polystyrene (it does not feel “slick” like Delrin).

There is a clear plastic part inside the sled and around the needle that might be polycarbonate.

All the above are guesses but again nothing is marked for recycling.

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I recycle the plastic bubble part of the wrapping. Better than nothing I guess. It’s #1 type PEG.

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They could make this device with the ability to change the inserted needle and sensor so we would limit the plastic trash.
But we are back to people throwing sharps into the trash.

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If you are in the USA, medical waste is not recyclable. It belongs in domestic rubbish along with all other home generated waste.

There are many places attempting to mandate RED CANs and other measures designed to “protect the environment” and other hogwash.

During my travels, my hosts have been served citations and other forms of harassment from Georgia to Oregon & Washington state for my placing diabetic waste in general garbage.

Many teachers tell students to show their work. Here is mine. This has prevailed in the kangaroo courts intimidating diabetics with disposal mandates.

Americans with Disabilities Act & Refuse Handling [1] In the US Constitution, Article 6, Clause 2, known as the supremacy clause, states, local governments, and local businesses can’t over step Federal Law.
[2] The Americans with Disabilities Act (codified as 42 U.S. Code CHAPTER 126— EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES) is the applicable law related to the disposal of “medical waste” in residential situations by members of a protected class (diabetics).
[3] A summary of the protections afforded protected classes can be found at this URL

[4] Under ‘Specific Requirements’, public entities MAY NOT (a) Refuse to allow a person with a disability to participate in, or benefit from, their services, programs or
activities because the person has a disability. or (b) Provide services or benefits to individuals with disabilities through programs that are separate or different, unless the separate programs are necessary to ensure that the benefits and services are equally effective.
[5] The provision of services for (a) fees, (b) at a distance when others get service at their residence, or (c) require special containers or packaging, are in violation of the provisions of the Federal Law.

Bottom line, there is a saying in the world of law in these United States of America, “ignorance of the law is no excuse”. Many people will answer questions to their convenience like the ideas of “talk to your trash people” or “localities have their own rules”.

As teachers sometimes said to students, “Show your work.” Here it is.

Thoughts???

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In my municipality I’m explicitly allowed to dispose of personal sharps in the trash as long as they are in a secure container. "Sharps or syringes are not considered household hazardous waste and should be disposed of with regular trash pick up. Sharps should be placed in a puncture-resistant hard plastic or metal container. "

A used G6 inserter seems way more puncture-resistant hard plastic than any other sharps container I’ve ever seen.

OTOH if I open up a G6 inserter like I did for this photo then the needle is no longer safe inside a hard plastic container! While I did it this one time for curiousity, my exercise informs me to not open future G6 inserters.

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Tim12, You might enjoy the YouTube vids on the guts of an Omnipod. Inserter, pump and reservoir in one. It’s pretty slick engineering.

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I live in a deeply red state, in a sparsely populated county. I called our landfill to see what they wanted me to do with my medical waste. They said, toss it in trash, no special treatment needed. :woman_shrugging: Would prefer to take more care, but oh well.

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I was diagnosed in 1982 and lived through the HIV-inspired anti-needle hysteria of the 1990’s and beyond. It’s great the hysteria - which for a while was so extreme that diabetics often had no legal way to dispose of used sharps at all - has mostly relaxed.

Still, it’s just common sense to enclose any sharps going into the trash, in a container that won’t possibly get open until it hits the incinerator or landfill or wherever. Just so trash collectors don’t get worried or anything.

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Hi Earthling, I was told to put needles in a storage container of some kind and then seal it and put it in the trash.

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I have homes in two different states, and in both of those states, no “garbage man or woman” ever touches my garbage can. I put my Dexcom waste in the regular garbage, inside a plastic bag with the rest of the garbage, and the cans are automatically picked up by the garbage trucks, dumped into the hopper, and driven off to the landfill where the whole truckload is just dumped onto the pile. Perhaps at the landfill someone with another big end loader moves the bags around, but at no time does a human hand touch my garbage bags after I place them in the trash. Thus, there is no danger of anyone getting “stuck” with a needle in my medical waste.