If you regularly use syringes for medication or if you are responsible for sharps disposal in your workplace, you probably know what a complicated issue it is. Due to the dangers of medical syringes, lancets and similar devices, they cannot simply be thrown in the wastebasket and taken to the dump. Special care must be taken to dispose of these items, and this special care is often covered by state regulations. One sure way to meet the requirements is to use sharps disposal by mail.
The Sharps Container
The safest method for disposing of sharp medical devices is a sharps container. These boxes come in a variety of sizes, from little containers that hold from one to five syringes to big buckets that can hold hundreds of sharp objects. The idea behind these containers is that they have a small opening that allows you to insert a single object into them, but it’s very difficult to reach into the container or remove anything. When the container gets full, it gets disposed of with all the sharps inside as one big unit.
Disposal of Sharps Containers
The official laws governing the disposal of sharp medical objects and sharps containers vary from state to state, but regardless of the specifics, the general idea is that sharps should not be mixed with normal trash and recycling material. The reason for this is that sharp medical implements may contain traces of medication or blood, blood which could be infected with pathogens like hepatitis B or AIDS. These diseases could be easily transferred to anyone who might be unfortunate enough to be cut by the infected syringe or other medical implement while handling trash. With that in mind, sharps are supposed to go to special facilities for Sharps disposal.
You can find the location of your nearest facility and bring the sharps containers there yourself, if you choose to do so. An easier way to do this is by using a program of sharps disposal by mail in which a sharps container supplier provides you with a USPS approved shipping container and you just use it to send the container to a disposal site when it’s full. Sharps disposal by mail takes most of the difficulty out of the act of getting rid of sharp medical supplies. Visit Sharps Assure Company for more information.
