"Sharps" includes hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, lancets, and other devices that are used to penetrate the skin for the delivery of medications. Every year more than 2 billion needles and syringes are used nationwide outside of healthcare settings. In California, there are more than 486,000 individuals who self-inject insulin daily, with more than 355 million home-generated sharps each year that need to be properly disposed. In September of 2008, it became illegal to dispose of sharps in the trash when California legislators passed SB 1305, but because the law did not provide funding for a sharps management system, it resulted in an unfunded mandate. Most communities cannot afford another product specific program and many lack safe, convenient collection programs and most of these needles are illegally disposed in garbage cans, recycling containers, and some are even flushed down toilets. This poses health risks to children, sanitation workers, water treatment facility operators, and the general public.
The sharps landfill ban is of particular concern to the growing number of Americans using injectable medications to treat diseases such as diabetes, arthritis, migraines, infertility, blood disorders, and for those who medicate pets and livestock. There are relatively few pharmacies, hospitals, physicians offices, veterinarians' offices and clinics that will accept them as compared to the many dispensaries of sharps.
This situation poses an opportunity for companies who manufacture sharps and pharmaceuticals that are dispensed in sharps — to share in the responsibility for these products at end-of-life to further protect public health. CPSC is working with communities, retailers, clinics, doctors offices and the State Board of Pharmacy to develop convenient collection programs and guidelines for sharps collection. Ultimately, we hope to partner with sharps producers to develop a fair and sustainably funded system so all sharps users have convenient access to sharps collection without incurring more costs at the point of disposal or increasing taxes or garbage rates.
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Ask your doctor, pharmacist, and whomever you buy sharps from to offer take-back
