City of Lewisville Medical Waste Disposal

Properly managing and disposing of household generated sharps not only reduces pollution to the environment, it prevents injury and disease transmission from needle sticks. Texas regulations do not provide written recommendations for sharps disposal. However, individuals who use syringes at home are responsible for ensuring their used syringes are stored and disposed in a way that does not cause a health hazard. To safely dispose of used needles, lancets, and syringes, use one of the options listed below.

Mail-Back Programs

Unless there is a sharps collection program available in a community, the best option for sharps storage and disposal is to purchase a sharps container that is part of a mail-back program. Mail-back programs allow home users to mail used sharps to licensed disposal facilities. These programs charge a fee for this service. There are several companies in Texas that offer mail-back programs:

Sharps Compliance, Inc. Phone: 800-772-5657 www.sharpsinc.com	Waste Management MedWaste Tracker Phone: 866-931-6321 www.thinkgreenfromhome.com
Oncore Technology Phone: 972-786-7060 www.oncoreus.com	Stericycle Phone: 866-783-7422 www.stericycle.com

Note: This list is not intended to be an endorsement of particular vendors, and there may be other vendors who offer similar services.

Trash Disposal

While it is legal in Texas to dispose of sharps in your household trash, doing so requires special effort on the part of the user to prevent injury to sanitation workers and others who might come in contact with the trash container. Follow these guidelines to ensure you are doing everything you can to prevent injury to others:

� Never place loose needles and syringes in the trash.

� Use a destruction device made specifically for sharps to clip needles.

� Never place containers with used needles or syringes in a recycling bin.

� Do not place sharps in containers with a Biohazard label on the outside of the container in the trash since waste haulers will not pick up biohazard material with regular residential trash.

� If placing sharps in the trash,

do not

use a sharps container you purchase from a pharmacy or other retailer. Sharps containers are designed to be used

only

for mail-back programs. Instead, use an empty laundry detergent bottle with a screw-on lid.

� Always keep storage containers for used sharps out of the reach of children and pets.

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