I am wondering what everyone does with their Inset “cases” when done inserting. I have a sharps container that I put my syringes and pen needles in, but the hole is too small to drop in the inset cases. My rep told me that some people remove the needle with pliers and place in the sharps container and then recycle the remainder of the case.
This sounds too time consuming so I figured that the members here at TuDiabetes would have some better ideas.
I would love to know what you all do with the insets, your help is appreciated.
It only take a sec to remove the needle. this is what i do you just need to make sure that you grab the needle as low down as you can or it will break off…
I remove the sharp with small pliers which I keep next to the sharps container. As Greg said, it doesn’t take long. Besides, a couple of seconds to avoid someone else sticking themselves, is surely worth it. Do you know exactly what happens to your garbage once it leaves your house?
You could call your local rubbish pick up place and find out what their policy is. Some accept the whole container with the sharp, some don’t.
Still… there’s so much rubbish associated with diabetes! Surely the manufacturers could do some of it with less packaging and less paper inserts!
I was told if you closed them up you could just throw them in the trash as they were their own “sharps” container. I like the idea of pulling the needle part out and recycling the plastic though. Me…I have two bushel baskets full of the things. I’m saving them for some 3-d diabetic art project yet to be designed. Knowing me, when i get to 3 bushel baskets, I’ll give up on the art project and just toss them all in recycle. I also end up with a bunch of tubing also as the tming of my cartridge change never seems to coincide with the changing of the site and I just keep reusing the same connection tubing.
It’s not that difficult to pull out the introducer needle Preta! Only a few seconds - and poof - it’s off - and I place that bit in my sharps container. The case then goes into my recycle bin - as the plastic number 5 is accepted here in the municipality I live in. I know in the beginning - it put me off of using the Inset 90 - but once I found out it could be recycled - I felt abit less guilty about using it. I like the ease of using the Inset 90 - compared to manually inserting it into my skin.
I’ve used a needle clipper and cut the needle off, and tossed the rest into the recycle. I keep the snipper right by my recycle bin. Takes 2 secs. to do it and then it is a toss.
Thanks everyone, I guess I will have to pull the needle out and recycle the case. I was just hoping there was a disposal case with a big enough hole to fit the whole thing…I just hate the multiple steps even though they really aren’t that time consuming. Thanks.
You can also bend the needle part over and place it under the plastic where it will hold then close up the plastic. That is if you don’t want to pull the needle. At least that way there is less chance of anyone getting stuck.
Hi everyone! I just replace the cap and throw it in my regular trashcan. I never have used a sharps container in my life. I just recap everything and pitch. Never had any complaints.
Hi Ali,
In most areas of the western world, the disposal of sharps is legislated and it’s illegal to throw them in the trash. I don’t know what the legislation is for your area, but you may want to check with your local health authority… and what the fine is, in case you get surprised one day! In some areas, they will take the Inset II in the regular trash, but you’d have to check.
Cheers…
Sue
What a brilliant idea to recycle them, It never dawned on me. Most plastics here are accepted, but I will double check it. Up till now I just covered and threw in regular trash…all the trash here gets burned so as long as it wont puncture a worker we can throw into reg trash. That is what the board of health nurse said.
