Bio-Medical Waste (Sharps)

Household biomedical waste is defined to consist solely of sharps, usually insulin syringes and lancets  These can be sent to your facility as long as the persons sending them comply with a few specific requirements.  These requirements include:

• That the sharps, (i.e. the syringes and lancets) are either self-administered by the person or administered by a family member.  Sharps generated in the household by home health care providers would not be considered household biomedical waste and would have to be handled by the home health care provider under different provisions.
• The discarded syringes and lancets should be placed in rigid containers that are resistant to leaks and punctures.  Such containers can be made of a heavy plastic and have a screw lid.  This could be something like an empty laundry detergent bottle.  Glass bottles and plastic milk containers are not satisfactory because of chance of breakage or the lid coming off the container lid.
• In general, if the container is something that could end up in your recycling stream, then the person should be sure to clearly label the container with “Do Not Recycle” with a permanent marker.  The container should also be placed in a disposal bag so that it doesn’t get mistakenly mixed in with your recyclables.