Check with your city,town has written guidelines for sharp disposal. Where I live we need to put them in a container thick enough so a needle won’t poke out. Clearly mark sharps on it. Then put it in a trash bag with other trash. Some area hospitals have sharp container trade in programs. Nancy
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I never bothered to re-cap my pen needles. Vitamins come in large plastic bottles which are a good size to hold sharps when I am on the road. I have several; one is in my D-Bag, one is in the car, one in my desk drawer at work, etc. All are marked with red tape and SHARPS. I’d bend the point over (they fit better) and put it in a vitamin bottle. The cap I’d take home to put in the regular trash. Never, ever put medical waste into the regular waste stream!
I completely agree with this thought. Also in my D-Bag are empty test strip containers. I put my used test strips in there. When in public, I rarely do a finger stick on a gripping surface. I’m acutely aware of the number of people who will be handling my used dinnerware, drinking glass, and so on, and I try to be a responsible member of society…
I put broken sewing needles into an old vitamin bottle I keep at the sewing machine. It’s NOT marked with red tape, but instead with the words SEWING NEEDLES. This way the trash people won’t be worried that they have to take precautions suitable to medical waste; only the normal care used for household trash.
One other option that I know some people use - they just have a needle clipper to chop off the end of the pen needles and toss the rest in the trash… Though about getting one to keep with me in case I need it, but haven’t gotten to that…
I have one of these needle clippers, but they only work with pen needles and not infusion sets. I was hoping it would be a good tool while travelling, but since I’m on a pump it doesn’t really work.
When I test my blood sugar in public I am very careful not to get blood on things or to touch things right after I’ve tested in case my finger hasn’t healed yet. Other than not testing in public at all, which would be very hard for those of us who are out of the house for 10-12 hours a day, I’m not sure what else could be done to reduce microscopic bits of blood. I’m sure people without diabetes who get cuts and scrapes are leaving microscopic bits of blood on surfaces, too.
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