How to Dispose of Used Syringes (Hypodermic Needles)

There might come a time in your life when you or a loved one has to use some type of needle injection medication at home. My best friend recently was prescribed Lovenox injections (a type of blood thinner for blood clots) to be taken at home. I myself have had to use Heparin injections, and insulin dependent diabetics have to use insulin injections.

When using the pre-filled syringes, many of the hypodermic needles for medications come with a special plastic cover that pops into place when the plunger of the needle is fully depressed, after the medication has been dispensed. This automatically covers the needle, making home disposal safer than every before. If your syringes don't come with this feature, then care must be used when handling needles.

When disposing a used hypodermic needle, never recap the needle. Needles are small and punctures or tears of the hands/fingers are likely when disposing of a used hypodermic needle or syringe.

In order to properly dispose of used hypodermic needles or pre-filled medication syringes, it's important to get a sharps container. These are inexpensive red containers with a special plastic top on them that allow needles and other items to be pushed through but won't allow them to come back out of the container.

While some websites and friends or family might tell you to use a special box or a coffee can with a plastic lid with a hole cut in it, this is not advised. The sharps containers are inexpensive, and if you ask at your local hospital or pharmacy you might even get one for free. These red sharps containers are universally known and recognized as containing sharp medical implements. Health care personnel, family and friends, visitors to your home, etc., will all recognize a red sharps container with the warning labels on them and will know to steer clear.

Additionally, depending on your local area, carrying a red sharps container to and from a needle disposal location is much safer for all concerned.

That's the next step in how to dispose of a used hypodermic needle: disposal locations.

Some areas have designated locations for turning in the red sharps containers, where workers who are skilled in handled used medical waste will dump your sharps container and they will dispose of the needles for you. These designated locations could be your doctor's office, a local hospital, the health department, or your local pharmacy.

When you are diagnosed with a condition that requires the use of syringes, it's important to ask your doctor or pharmacist where it is legal to dispose of your used needles. In Texas City, the pharmacist told my friend to put the needles in a box and tape the box shut and dispose of it with her regular waste. If you are unsure, and none of your medical professionals can help you, call your city sanitation department and ask them how they prefer medical sharps refuse to be handled, specifically concerning hypodermic needles.

Even if your city says it is acceptable to put needles in your ordinary trash receptacles, please put them in a box and seal the box. There are children, poor, homeless, etc, who regularly scour garbage cans and dumpsters looking for aluminum cans and glass bottles for money from recycling. If you don't seal the box, you run the risk of someone being punctured, and since the syringe is in the garbage, that person runs the risk of being infected with any sort of bacteria or viruses from the exposure to your needles.