Needles and Sharps Alternative ways to recycle Illegal in Garbage & Drains Hazardous Waste FREE Household Hazardous and Electronic Waste Collection Event December 21, 2024 Saturday, December 21, 2024 More Info Get Reminder Needles and sharps can be dropped off at the following locations: Torrance Public Health Center711 W Del Amo Blvd | (310) 354-2300Map & Directions Manhattan Beach Police Dept. Safe Drug Drop-Off420 15th Street, Manhattan Beach | (310) 545-4566Map & Directions Lomita Sheriff Station Safe Drug Drop-Off26123 Narbonne Ave, Lomita | (310) 539-1661Map & Directions Gardena Police Dept. Safe Drug Drop-Off1718 W 162nd St, Gardena | (310) 217-9600Map & Directions Curtis R. Tucker Health Center123 W Manchester Blvd, Inglewood | (310) 419-5325Map & Directions Carson Sheriff Station Safe Drug Drop-Off21356 S Avalon Blvd, Carson | (310) 830-1123Map & Directions To properly store medical sharps prior to disposal: Place in a rigid, hard plastic or metal container with a screw-on or tight-fitting lid, such as a plastic laundry detergent container or coffee can. The container should be puncture-resistant and leak proof. Milk containers are not puncture resistant. Once the container is full, close the lid tightly and seal it with duct tape. Mark the container very clearly “SHARPS.” Containers specifically made for sharps storage can be purchased at pharmacies or medical supply stores. Do Not Recap To avoid injuring yourself from needle pricks, do not put needle caps back on needles. Never Throw Away Do not throw needles or sharps in the trash. They put sanitation workers, friends and family at risk of needle pricks, which can cause infection and injury. Use Only Sharps Containers for Disposal To dispose of needles and sharps, place them in sharps containers and bring them to a designated sharps disposal facility. What Is Considered a Sharp? All of the following must be disposed of as sharps waste: hypodermic needles, pen needles, intravenous needles, lancets and other devices that are used to break the skin of people and animals. Alternative Ways to Recycle Mail-Back Programs for Injectable Pharmaceuticals Mail used sharps and pens back to the manufacturer of injectable pharmaceuticals. The following manufacturers accept sharps waste generated from their products: Enbrel® (Amgen), Neulasta® (Amgen), Novo Nordisk, Orencia® (Bristol-Myers) and Simponi® (Janssen Biotech, Inc.). Stericycle® Mail Service for Home Sharps Stericycle runs a sharps container mail-back service for small quantity generators of waste. They include bar-coded waste shipping containers, prepaid and pre-addressed shipping labels and prepaid disposal and tracking. Visit Stericycle’s Mail Back Solutions page here. Republic Services Mail-Back Service Republic Services offers a mail-back service for managing home-generated medical waste. Visit republicsharps.com. MedPro Mail-Back Disposal MedPro offers various sizes of mail-back sharps disposal systems, starting with 1.2 gallon containers. All containers are mailed to recipients via USPS with a prepaid return slip and proof of destruction manifest. Visit MedPro’s sharps disposal page here. GRP Mail-Back Sharps Container GRP and Associates offer a mail-back sharps disposal service. They will mail you a sharps container, which you package and mail-back to them. Visit their page on sharps mail back here. Ways to Reduce Return Unused Sharps to a Needle Exchange Program Instead of dropping off unopened sharps at a disposal facility, consider taking them to a needle exchange program, such as MedShare. Find the nearest program. Did You Know? How Sharps Affect Sanitation Workers Disposing of sharps isn’t always convenient. At the same time, sharps in the trash and recycling pose a huge health risk to sanitation workers. If workers come across a needle hidden in trash, they can get struck and have to wait up to a year to know if they’ve contracted a blood-borne virus, such as hepatitis, tetanus, HIV/AIDS or syphilis.