Nearly 10 million Americans use syringes to inject themselves with medications. It could be for diabetes, arthritis, HIV, or infertility – even migraines. Those numbers are on the rise.
And when they’re done, those home users toss some 3 billion syringes into the trash each year. That poses health risks to workers handling that trash.
So state lawmakers are considering a bill that would make it illegal to toss syringes in the trash. And those who sell or distribute them would have to participate in a needle take-back programs.
NHPR’s Dianne Finch has more.
Workers at a Waste Management facility sort through plastics to find items that can't be recycled, such as medical needles. (Courtesy Waste Management)
At Waste Management’s recycling facility in Rochester, glass bottles are dumped into crushing machines.
AMBI: crushing glass
And various types of plastic bottles and tins travel along conveyor belts where they’re sorted and then crushed.
AMBI: belts, factory background
Workers stand by those belts to pick off items that should never have been placed in recycle bins.
Like paint cans, light bulbs, plastic bags– and needles.
Gene Melewski, the manager at the facility, says his workers are trained to be cautious when they encounter syringes – which he calls “sharps.”
And when they spot sharps travelling along the belt – everything comes to a halt.
Melewski: “We actually have to shut down the line and inform everybody that there’s sharps coming up. And we have trained several people to remove them from the belt. They will go over there and use a pair of tongs to pick them up put them into the container…we have had a couple of sharps injuries.”
When workers are jabbed – they have to undergo a variety of blood tests.
Waste Management’s district manager, Alan Davis.
DAVIS: “If you get stuck you have to follow OSHA’s blood-borne pathogen rules, and they have to go for testing, hepatitis shots, and we have to try to identify who it came from and ask them to be tested for any type of disease that could be transmitted to the needle.”
Davis says his workers wear protective clothing - but it isn’t failsafe.
And those punctures open the door for other bacteria lingering in trash to enter the bloodstream – even if the offending needle had been clean.
Some workers go through counseling while they wait for test results, which can take weeks.
People who pick up trash at the curbside and those working at landfills can also be jabbed.
Today used syringes are found in trash at hotels, airports, schools and other places – so housekeeping staff are also at risk.
Portsmouth Representative Jim Powers has sponsored a bill to address the problem.
He says the problem is due to not enough needle take back programs.
POWERS: “It’s very difficult for some diabetics to get anywhere in order to bring things in and I can understand that that’s why we need to make the drop off centers if you will as accessible as possible.”
The bill requires that pharmacies and other needle distributors contract with take-back programs and refer customers to them.
So far, it’s unclear who would pay for take-back programs in the state.
Representative Powers says that many options are on the table.
One proposes asking syringe makers to provide free storage containers that can be mailed directly to medical waste sites.
POWERS: “Personally I think that if you are manufacturing distributing and selling anything which is potentially hazardous to health then you have responsibility for helping to solve the problem.”
A spokeswoman for Becton Dickinson, the largest syringe maker, said sales have been growing in the home-use syringe market – but declined to provide any details.
She added that her company does sell containers approved for mail-back programs – and they cover the postage.
Ed Krisiunas - a medical waste consultant from Connecticut, says other states have found creative ways to address the problem.
KRISIUNAS: “California has been proactive where communities and counties have established various types of collection programs you can take them to a fire station. In Rhode Island there were kiosks set up at certain drug stores and they’re trying to do same thing in Massachusetts.”
The New Hampshire bill passed in the House and is currently before the Senate.
For NHPR News, I’m Dianne Finch
