I used to work in elderly high-rise buildings, and I’d urge the residents to be careful. Maintenance workers were getting stuck with discarded needles. This was earlier in the AIDS epidemic. A needlestick is a nasty injury now, but even more frightening then, because there was no prophylactic treatment and people who got stuck were getting blood tests for a year.

Workers would find needles clogging toilet drains, or stashed in high cupboards where they couldn’t be seen. There were many diabetics, some IV drug users, and a few who were both. Scary. Some people don’t realize that everything we throw away goes somewhere…

There has been a sharp increase in needles showing up with recycled bottles and cans at the Central Landfill in Johnston. That puts workers at risk and is causing the assembly line there to be shut down as often as 10 times a day.

The state departments of health and environmental management have now agreed to advise individuals to put needles into strong containers such as bleach bottles or coffee cans, and dispose of them in the trash in a way that limits the opportunity for them to come in contact with people.

When I go out to a home, I ask about sharps disposal. Most people want to do the right thing. ‘I always cap the needles’, they say.

(Interestingly, OSHA forbids health care workers to re-cap on the job, because so many got injured that way. In hospitals there are sharps containers handy, and the drill for nurses is to give the injection and drop the needle into the container immediately. Works for me.)

In the home, a person handles their own needle, so any germs on it are their own. It’s purely my opinion that re-capping is not unreasonable. ( If I’m wrong about this, someone please set me right. The DOH says don’t, but they don’t say why. ) But it’s not enough to ensure safety. The next step is to drop the needle into an impermeable container like a detergent bottle or coffee can, and to label the container so that no one mistakes it for anything else. And if it’s a coffee can, tape it so it stays closed. Don’t forget the lancets– they are pointy too. Put them in the can. The can can go out in the regular trash, “in a way that limits the opportunity for them to come in contact with people.” I would suggest in a bag of garbage, closed up and in the city trash can so that no one will even have to touch it.

We used to have a plan for collection, but that fell apart. Needles in the landfill– not the best thing but that’s what we’re left with. Have a thought for the hard-working people who keep our environment from becoming unlivable, and don’t even think about putting anything into the recycling that’s not on the list.

And our state has to stop being vague and unhelpful to all the good people with diabetes who want to do the right thing. Get the collection program going again. It’s a lot cheaper than dealing with dangerous trash at the Johnston Recycling Center.