Syringe and sharps disposal

Re: Syringe and sharps disposal

Vickipr — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:55:45 GMT

[quote user="*Steph *"]

We separate our needles from our syringes..

Obviously needles go in yellow shaprs bin (or purple depending if cytotoxic!) and we have a little bin next to it that we throw our syringes into.. at the end of the week when bin if full, they get put into the pharmaceutical bin with empty bottles.

We've only been doing this for about a year when our waste collector told us that it was the new guidelines.. before that the syringes would just get thrown into offensive waste!

[/quote]

We do exactly the same at my practice!

Re: Syringe and sharps disposal

Phrin Vernon RVN — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:30:40 GMT

We have recently (6-8mths ago) changed supplier, and both past and present ones insisted on syringes used for drugs going into pharmacutical waste, ie DOOP bins.

We used to have little tubs that got decanted into the DOOP bin when full, but at out PSS inspection, we were told we had to have a sharps bin, AND pharmacutical waste bin at each disposal station. So needles into sharps, and syringes into pharmacutical waste.

From what little I remember of pharmacology at college (so boring I have forgotten! And it was only about 2 mths ago!), you can no longer put drug contaminated syringes into clinical waste. Apparently, in theory, even drip bags & giving sets should be DOOP'd, as they contain a POM-V product!

Re: Syringe and sharps disposal

FINNIGAN — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 21:23:10 GMT

i think it depends on your waste suppliers, we used to seperate syringes and needles and now weve changed clinical waste collectors we have to throw needle and syringe in sharps!!

Re: Syringe and sharps disposal

Sal the 1st — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 12:24:01 GMT

I did a bit of research into this when we were doing our clinical waste audit - some of the confusion it seems is down to some of the collection companies using ?NHS guidelines which require syringe and needle to be disposed of together and yes this will fill up sharps bins extremely quickly, and some that are accepting waste as per BVA guidelines which say it is ok to put needles only in sharps and syringes in leakproof bins.

maybe it would be good to find out which companies use which guidelines?. I personally think that waste disposal has become a bit of a racket. I know there are lots more rules and regs to be followed but how many of these now are just being used as an excuse to hike prices?

Re: Syringe and sharps disposal

loobylou — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:13:09 GMT

[quote user="Sal (the 1st) Holesworth VN CMH Chyp (M)PNLP"]

there are some guidelines issued by either BVA or BSAVA (I forget which at the moment) however if you want your waste collector to collect your waste you may have to 'toe the line' or start looking for another one. I think there are a few differences between the guidelines and requirements of various collection companies. As already posted on another thread IMO it is becoming more than a little bit confusing with all the combinations of bags and bins

[/quote]

Thanks for the help guys. I said the same to the boss about 'toeing the line' with the waste collector but he's thinking of his pockets and thinks that the syringes fill up the sharps bins too quickly and so cost him more He's even willing to change collectors but I have a feeling all others will be the same.

I agree with it becoming very confusing but we are very lucky that our waste collector only gives us two options- yellow sharps bins for all sharps, glass and pharmaceuticals and yellow/ black waste bags for all other soft clinical (or whatever we should call it now!!) waste.

Re: Syringe and sharps disposal

Steph Phillips — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:20:27 GMT

We separate our needles from our syringes..

We've only been doing this for about a year when our waste collector told us that it was the new guidelines.. before that the syringes would just get thrown into offensive waste!

Re: Syringe and sharps disposal

Sal the 1st — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:02:19 GMT

http://www.bva.co.uk/public/documents/hw_poster.pdf

Re: Syringe and sharps disposal

Sal the 1st — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:56:34 GMT

Re: Syringe and sharps disposal

chanel clydesdale — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:53:11 GMT

Hey there we currently use elysian fields pet crematorian for all our disposals and we seperate all our syringes and needles. The needles all obv go into the hard sharps containers but we dispose of all our syringes into the ordinary soft clinical waste bag along with all other clinical waste materials and always have done. x